Trend: higher highs and higher lows

Swings

Prices move in waves. A swing high is a peak with lower highs on both sides; a swing low is a trough with higher lows on both sides. NexusCore's tools use 5 candles on each side to confirm one — which also means a swing is only confirmed 5 candles after it happens.

Three states

• Uptrend: each swing high is higher than the last (HH) and each swing low too (HL).
• Downtrend: lower highs (LH) and lower lows (LL).
• Range: swings overlap without progress.

When is a trend broken?

Not when a red candle appears, not when RSI is "overbought". An uptrend's structure breaks when price closes below the last higher low — the low that buyers had to defend. Until then, every decline is a pullback. In a downtrend, the break is a close above the last lower high.

That last higher low is also where a stop belongs for a trend-following long: if it breaks, the reason for the trade is gone.

Measuring trend with averages

Moving averages summarise the same thing smoothly: price above a rising 20 and 50 EMA is an uptrend. NexusCore's trend read uses one rule for every timeframe — the 20 vs 50 EMA, their slope, and ADX for strength — so "up" means the same on 15m and 1D.

Common mistakes

• Calling tops: "it has gone up too much" is not a structure break.
• Ignoring which timeframe a trend is on: a 15m downtrend can sit inside a 1D uptrend.
• Counting every wiggle as a swing — use the same rule each time.