Field notes
Marking swing structure without indicators
A practical method for labelling higher highs, higher lows, and breaks of structure on a clean candlestick chart.
Start with a timeframe you actually trade. On a daily chart, mark the most recent swing high and swing low that produced a meaningful move — not every tiny wick. Connect those pivots with horizontal lines only when price has reacted from them more than once or when they sit at an obvious prior day extreme.
Higher highs and higher lows describe an uptrend only while both sides keep progressing. The first lower high after a sequence of higher highs is a warning, not automatically a short. Wait for a break of the last higher low before calling a structure shift on that timeframe.
Write the labels on the chart: HH, HL, LH, LL. Spoken labels force honesty. If you cannot say why a candle is a swing rather than noise, leave it unmarked and move on. In Foundations homework we reject charts that are crowded with every minor pivot.
Finish by noting the last unbroken level that would invalidate your current bias. That single line is worth more than three oscillators. Bring that chart to Clinic and defend it in one sentence.