Glossary · Structure

Swing high and swing low

A swing high is a candle whose high is above the highs of the candles on either side of it. A swing low is a candle whose low is below the lows on either side. Trends, breaks and stop placements are all measured from these pivots, so your swing rule shapes every reading.

Diagram of two five-candle groups. On the left the middle candle has the highest high and is labelled swing high; on the right the middle candle has the lowest low and is labelled swing low. A note says each is confirmed only when the candles on its right have closed. — With two candles on each side, the middle candle is a swing high when its high tops all four neighbours, and a swing low when its low is below all four.

How many candles make a swing?

There is no single standard. The rule is how many candles on each side the middle candle has to beat:

One on each side (3 candles). The simplest rule, and the one the StraviFX glossary uses. It marks many swings, including small ones inside a pullback.
Two on each side (5 candles). A common default in charting indicators. It skips minor wiggles and marks the swings most traders would draw by eye.
Three or more on each side. Stricter still, for noisy markets or for the main swings only. StraviFX's hourly Swing signals check uses three candles on each side on the 4-hour chart.

A wider rule gives fewer, more meaningful swings, but each one is confirmed later. Whatever you choose, use the same rule on every chart you compare, or your highs and lows won't line up with your own past analysis.

A swing is confirmed late

A candle can't be a swing high until the candles to its right have closed below it. With one candle on each side, you know one candle later; with three on each side, three candles later. On a 4-hour chart, that is 12 hours after the high itself was printed.

This delay is built into the idea, not a flaw in your chart. It is also why some indicators appear to "repaint": they mark the newest high straight away and move the marker if a later candle goes higher.

A worked example

Five 1-hour EUR/USD candles have these highs, in order. The prices are an illustration, not real data.

1.0851
1.0858
1.0866
1.0862
1.0855

One-candle rule: candle 3 (1.0866) is above candle 2 (1.0858) and candle 4 (1.0862), so it is a swing high. It is confirmed when candle 4 closes.
Two-candle rule: 1.0866 is also above candles 1 and 5, so it is a swing high under this rule too, confirmed when candle 5 closes.
If candle 4 had reached 1.0866: the two candles would tie. Under a strict rule, neither is a swing high, because neither is above both of its neighbours.

Why it matters

Every other structure term is built from swings. Higher highs and higher lows compare one swing with the last. A break of structure is a close beyond one. A sensible stop loss usually sits just beyond one. If two traders define swings differently, they can look at the same chart and disagree about the trend, and both be applying their rule correctly.

Common mistakes

Marking a swing before it is confirmed. The newest high on the chart is a candidate until the candles on its right have closed.
Changing the rule between charts. A 1-candle swing on one chart and a 5-candle swing on another give readings you can't compare.
Using bodies for some swings and wicks for others. Measure swing highs and lows from the wicks, consistently.
Treating every small swing as important. On a fast chart, a 1-candle rule marks swings inside swings. Decide whether you are reading the main swings or the small ones inside a pullback.

Questions

Is a swing high measured from the wick or the body?

From the wick: a swing high uses the candle's high and a swing low uses its low, because those are the prices the market actually reached. Breaks are different. In the StraviFX glossary, a swing is only broken when a later candle closes beyond it.

How many candles make a swing, 3 or 5?

Both are common, and neither is wrong. A 3-candle swing has one candle on each side; a 5-candle swing has two on each side and marks fewer, more important points. Pick one rule and use it every time, because changing it changes every structure reading you make.

Why did my indicator move a swing point after the fact?

Because a swing can only be confirmed once the candles on its right have closed. Until then the newest high is only a candidate, and the next candle can go higher and replace it. Indicators that draw swings early and then redraw them are showing that delay.

What if two candles have the same high?

Conventions differ. Some tools pick one of them; StraviFX's swing engine requires the high to be strictly above its neighbours, so two equal tops side by side don't make a swing high. Equal highs matter in their own right, because traders often see stop orders resting above them.

Swings in the app

When StraviFX reads a chart, it describes the swings and the structure they form in plain English. On Premium, the extended analysis anchors its levels to that structure. The read is analysis, not a signal to trade; the decision stays with you.

Related terms

Market structure: The sequence of swing highs and lows a market prints: rising is bullish, falling is bearish, neither is a range.
Break of Structure (BOS): A candle close beyond the last swing high or low in the direction of the trend. It signals continuation.
Change of Character (CHoCH): The first break against the trend: an uptrend closing below its last higher low, or a downtrend above its last lower high.
Market Structure Shift (MSS): The confirmed flip that can follow a CHoCH: a failed swing in the old direction, then a close beyond the next swing.
Higher highs / higher lows: The four swing labels (HH, HL, LH, LL) and what each combination says: uptrend, downtrend or range.
Range / consolidation: Price moving between a ceiling and a floor with no new highs or lows beyond them. A reason to wait, or to trade the edges.
Retest: Price coming back to a level it has just closed beyond, to see whether the level now holds from the other side.
Liquidity: Resting orders, mostly stop losses, that pool just beyond obvious highs, lows and round numbers. Price is often drawn toward them.
Liquidity sweep / stop hunt: A push past an obvious high or low that triggers the stops there, then closes back inside. A close beyond is a breakout.
Buy-side / sell-side liquidity: Buy orders resting above price (BSL) and sell orders resting below it (SSL). The pools a move is likely to travel toward.
Equal highs / equal lows: Two or more highs or lows at nearly the same price. A flat edge that collects stops, so a common sweep target.
Order block (OB): The last opposing candle before a strong move away. A zone price may return to, with the stop just beyond it.
Fair Value Gap (FVG): A three-candle gap where candle 1's high and candle 3's low don't overlap. Traded through fast, so often revisited.
Breaker block: A failed order block that price closes through, then returns to from the other side, where it can act the opposite way.
Mitigation block: A failed order block after a swing that fell short. Price breaks it, then returns from the other side as trapped traders exit.
Supply / demand zone: The base a sharp move left from: demand below price, supply above. The first return to a fresh zone usually counts most.
Premium / discount: A range split at its 50% midpoint, equilibrium. Buy in the discount half, sell in the premium half.
Optimal Trade Entry (OTE): The 62–79% pullback of the last impulse leg. A deep entry that keeps the stop close and the target far.
Entry: The price a trade opens at: market, limit or stop. With the stop and target fixed, it sets the risk and the reward.
Stop loss: An order that closes the trade at a set price to cap the loss. It goes where the idea is proven wrong, plus a buffer.

See every term in the trading glossary.

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