Trends: higher highs, lower lows
Trend is the water you swim in. Names come later.
What a trend is
An uptrend is a staircase of higher highs and higher lows. A downtrend is the mirror. Range is a hallway: price bounces between two walls with no staircase at all.
Trendline intuition
Lay a line under the lows of an uptrend (or over the highs of a downtrend). The third touch makes it a line worth watching; the break of it is the trend asking a question.
Trade with the water
Beginner rule that survives contact with real markets: patterns against the trend fail more. A hammer in an uptrend pullback is a trade; the same wick against a freight-train downtrend is a hope.
Quick check
A "range" market means…
- Price bounces between two horizontal walls
- Price only goes up
- No candles print
- Trendlines do not exist
Ranges are hallways: defined walls, no staircase. Breakout trades in Unit 5 live at the edges of exactly this structure.
This lesson is part of the free learning path at /academy/ — progress, XP and boss games live there.
Educational content only — not financial advice.