Market structure · Beginner · 3 min read
Break of structure (BOS) and change of character (CHoCH)
A close through the last swing: with the trend it is a BOS, against the trend it is a CHoCH.
Once you can see swings, SMC watches one event: price closing through the last swing. The same event gets two names depending on the trend.
- With the trend, it is a BOS (break of structure): the trend continues.
- Against the trend, it is a CHoCH (change of character): the first warning that the trend may turn.
- 80 real 4h candles of BTC/USDT · Crypto (perpetual futures) · 2026-06-15 → 2026-06-28. The code found this example, not us: it is the most recent one in our data.
- Before: the trend was up. Each break of a swing in that direction (by a close) confirmed it.
- CHoCH (change of character): a candle closes beyond the last swing low at 63 228, against the trend. First sign it may turn.
- BOS (break of structure): price breaks the next swing at 61 884 in the new direction. The new trend is confirmed.
- We count closes, not wicks. A wick beyond a swing that closes back inside is a liquidity sweep, a different idea.
- What happened next: 10 candles later, price was +0.4 % from the close of the marked candle. One example proves nothing; the test below counts thousands.
Close, not wick
We count a break only when a candle closes beyond the swing. A wick that pokes through and closes back inside is something else: a liquidity sweep, the next lesson.
Flip the cards
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Quick check
The trend is down. A candle closes above the last swing high. What is it?
One example on a chart is not evidence. The box below is: it counts every trade our code took on years of data.
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Education about how markets and tests work. Not financial advice.