Trend structure explorer
Learn to name what price is doing before choosing a method for it, because almost every method only works in one of the three states.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Cycle the three states
Uptrend, downtrend, sideways. Every chart on every timeframe is one of these, and there is no fourth option.
- Read the structure, not the slope
An uptrend is higher highs and higher lows. That definition is objective and can be checked; "it looks like it is going up" cannot.
- Find where one state becomes another
The transition is where money is lost. An uptrend ends when a higher low fails to form — not when it feels like it has ended.
Worked example: Naming the state before choosing a tool
Switch between the three states and note which methods belong to each.
What to enter
- State
- Uptrend · Downtrend · Sideways
What it shows you
- Uptrend
- Higher highs, higher lows
- Downtrend
- Lower highs, lower lows
- Sideways
- Neither
- Most losses come from
- Using one state’s method in another
trend-following works, mean reversion fails
"cheap" is the most expensive word here
range methods work, breakout signals mostly fail
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Technical Analysis11 minEvery stock has a personalityThe same setup behaves differently on different instruments. Knowing how a stock habitually moves is an edge that only comes from watching the same names for years.
- Technical Analysis13 minMarket regimes: knowing when your system will not workEvery strategy has conditions it needs. Trend systems die in chop, mean-reversion dies in trends — and most losing streaks are a regime change, not a broken system.
- Technical Analysis10 minTrends, and how to tell when one has endedHigher highs and higher lows, the three phases of a trend, and the specific event that marks a change of character.
- Technical Analysis10 minADX and Fibonacci retracementsOne indicator that tells you whether to trust your other indicators, and one that works largely because everyone watches it.
- Market Basics11 minBefore you invest: the order of operationsFour things belong ahead of your first equity purchase. Skipping them is why most people are forced to sell at the worst possible moment.