Swing Points
Also known as: swing high, swing low, swing highs and lows, STH / ITH / LTH
What is it?
A swing high is a candle whose high is higher than the candle either side of it, and a swing low is a candle whose low is lower than the candle either side - the three-candle unit every piece of market structure is built from. ICT nests those swings into three tiers. The basic three-candle high is a short-term high (STH). A short-term high with a lower short-term high on both sides is an intermediate-term high (ITH). An intermediate-term high with a lower intermediate-term high on both sides is a long-term high (LTH).
How ICT nests swing highs into three tiers
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1
Short-term high (STH)
A candle whose high sits above the candle either side. On EUR/USD 15m, 1.0842 qualifies. Every minor wiggle makes one, so a break is noise.
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2
Intermediate-term high (ITH)
A short-term high with a lower short-term high on both sides. The 1.0861 high, flanked by 1.0834 and 1.0842, is an intermediate-term high.
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3
Long-term high (LTH)
An intermediate-term high with a lower one either side: 1.0888, flanked by 1.0861 and 1.0872. A break here is real. Lows nest the same way.
Lows mirror it exactly: an intermediate-term low is a short-term low with a higher short-term low either side, and a long-term low is an intermediate-term low with a higher intermediate-term low either side. On a EUR/USD 15-minute chart, minor highs print at 1.0834 and 1.0842 either side of a 1.0861 high, which makes 1.0861 an intermediate-term high. Later a 1.0888 high forms with that 1.0861 on its left and a 1.0872 intermediate-term high on its right, which makes 1.0888 the long-term high. Price trading through 1.0842 tells you almost nothing. Price closing above 1.0888 is a structural event.
That is the point of the hierarchy: it tells you which swing to measure a break against. Treat every minor high as structure and ordinary pullbacks read as reversals all day. The tier is also relative to the chart you drew it on, so a long-term high on the 5-minute is often just a short-term high on the hourly. Your capital is at risk on every one of these reads.
Why it matters: Ranking each swing as short, intermediate or long term tells you which breaks are genuine structure and which are noise you can safely ignore.
It decides which high or low a break of structure is measured against, so picking the wrong tier turns routine noise into a false structural signal.
Real-world example
On EUR/USD 15m, price broke the 1.0842 short-term high and rolled straight back over; the close above the 1.0888 long-term high later that session ran another 40 pips.
How SignalBots handles it
SignalBots signals publish the invalidation level alongside the entry, so you can see whether a setup is anchored to a minor swing or to a structural one before you size the trade. See /risk-warning.
Pro tip
Label the intermediate-term highs and lows first and leave the short-term ones unmarked - what is left on the chart is the structure actually worth trading.
Common pitfalls
Counting every three-candle high as structure, so a routine pullback through a short-term high reads as a break of structure and triggers an early reversal trade.
Frequently asked questions
How many candles either side make a valid swing point?
The strict rule is one candle either side, which is what makes it a three-candle pattern. Some traders require two or three lower highs on each side to cut down the count, but that is a personal filter rather than part of the definition.
How do I label the hierarchy on a live chart?
Do it in two passes. Mark every short-term high first, then go back and tag any that have a lower short-term high on both sides as intermediate-term. Run the same test across the intermediate-term highs to find the long-term ones.
Which tier should my stop sit beyond?
Beyond the swing that defines your idea, which is usually the intermediate- or long-term one, not the nearest short-term high. That means a wider stop and a smaller position, not a tighter stop on a swing that noise will take out.
Do swing points change when I switch timeframe?
Yes, and the tier is what shifts. A long-term high on the 5-minute chart is often only a short-term high on the hourly, which is why the hierarchy is read alongside a higher timeframe rather than in isolation.
How is a swing point different from a market structure high or low?
A swing point is pure geometry - three candles in a row. A market structure high or low is the swing that a break is actually measured against, which in practice means an intermediate- or long-term one carrying directional meaning.
Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Historical and backtested results do not guarantee future performance. Read the full risk warning.
