What is Price Action & Market Structure?
How price actually behaves on a chart — higher highs, lower lows, support and resistance — learned before any indicator.
Definition
Price action is reading raw price movement with no indicators. Market structure is its grammar: an uptrend prints higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend prints lower highs and lower lows; a range oscillates between a support floor (buyers keep stepping in) and a resistance ceiling (sellers keep capping). A trend is only "broken" when structure breaks — for example an uptrend suddenly printing a lower low.
Why it matters for trading
- Structure tells you the side of the trade before any indicator does — trading with the trend (buying higher lows) puts the odds with you; fighting it is where beginners bleed.
- Support and resistance are where orders cluster, so they are where reversals and stop-runs happen — knowing them tells you where to enter and where to put your stop.
- Indicators are derived from price; price is not derived from indicators. Master structure first and most indicators become optional.