The good news is that today, the forex market is a decentralised one, so let us look at the structure of this dynamic market.

The Forex market structure was reshaped with the technology revolution and today, it is an even more efficient market. The Spot Forex market is decentralised and this means that no single or centralised participant is controlling the market.

In addition, the many participants impact the price of a currency pair and as such, there is no single price for a given currency at any time. Quotes from different currency dealers vary and so the price you see when trading is the retail price, made by matching your request to buy or sell with the best price offered in the liquidity pool. While this might all sound chaotic, the fact is, the forex market is well structured and can be likened to having layers or ladder rungs where each participant looks for counterparties.

At the top of the ladder, you have the major banks whereas, at the bottom, you have the retail traders. Let us look at what can be found on each rung with the forex market structure.

Banks want to deal with huge volumes of forex and are looking for those who can meet their capacity demands. Of course, this is where other banks come in. This forms the interbank market layer of the forex market structure, right at the top of the ladder. The participants of this layer trade directly with each other or through electronic or voice brokers, such as Reuters Matching and EBS Electronic Brokering Services. These brokers fiercely compete against each other, looking to bring the best rates that can only be achieved when you are connected to a larger number of interested parties.

More parties mean better liquidity which leads to better rates. Therefore, some currency pairs are more liquid with one broker than with the other.

It is also interesting to note that all the banks within the interbank market can see the rates that each other is offering, yet this does not mean that any bank can make deals at those prices.

Other factors come into play here such as reputation and credit standing. On the next rung of the ladder, under the interbank market, are the hedge funds, retail market maker brokers, ECN brokers, and other financial institutions that are unable to make credit relationships with the major banks, and as such, they need to deal with commercial banks.

This forms the bridge in the forex market structure that is in between the interbank market and retail traders. While still offering better rates than for retail traders, the rates here are slightly higher and more expensive compared to the interbank rates. That being said, market structure is formed every day in our trading chart, however, if we are unable to recognize or identify them when they are formed we miss out on entry opportunities. In this article, I will try my best in the simplest form to explain forex market structure and how to identify them.

The best way to identify market structure in forex is to look at the higher timeframes, forex market structure can be seen in every time frame however is it much better in higher time frames where major zones can be found.

The higher timeframes will filter the Noise and give you a dominant trend in a long term. You can find the most informed forex market structure cheat sheet on tradingaxe or check- in depth forex chart pattern. Market structure in forex is the patterns that are formed on your trading chart that determines the forex market-dominant trend.

They are used mostly for technical analysis trading. They require no indicator, it is purely naked chart trading. These forex tools are required to help you map or mark your levels and see the market structure formed and find reversal and retracement zones.

Identifying the market structure in forex is not enough, it is important you also know how to read market structure in forex too. Reading market structure means knowing the best place for market entry after the structure is completed. The best time to enter after a market structure is completed is after the retest of the structure, the retest becomes support or resistance depending on the market trend direction. There are numerous forex market structure patterns that you will find on tradingaxe.

The continuation pattern in forex is after there is a market impulse on a higher timeframe and the market retraces to a retracement level for the trend to continue in the dominant trend. These retracement levels can be found using the Fibonacci tool.

The Fibonacci tool will help you find possible zones where the market will stop retracing and the trend resumes its original direction.

Market structure has proven to be the most reliable trading strategy with powerful setups that will guarantee profit. Below are images of market structure and powerful setups. Every successful forex trader knows that understanding market structure is inevitable for consistent profit.

Using the price structure forex strategy is a way to extract forex trading profits based on what the currency pair is doing, instead of what we hope it will do. Most people spend a lot of time looking for the perfect entry. The entry is important, but equally important are the exit points stop losses, trailing stop losses, or profit targets , and position sizing.

All are key to success. An exit strategy is often neglected. Most traders know how to place a stop loss , but knowing when to take a profit is one of the hardest things for most traders. Part of this is psychological as two conflicting interests tend to mess people up. These two conflicting issues, if not handled, will typically result in the trader oscillating between the problems, or gettings stuck on one.

In this article, I will discuss the profit target exit based on the price structure forex strategy. This strategy is primarily used for swing trading. This strategy is designed for forex trading, not stock trading. The only thing somewhat close to a price structure strategy for stocks is the Trend Channel strategy. New to forex? Check out the Forex Introduction Course.

The profit target is set before the trade, and can be based on a price structure the price has been moving in. Once that trade is placed, the two psychological problems mentioned above begin to mess with our heads.

Once in a trade, we should be hesitant to trust ourselves. In the logical headspace before a trade, our objective analysis is more trustworthy.

This is why we plan our trades before taking them, because then all we have to do is follow the rules we laid out.

A trailing stop works the same way. We only exit based on a method we determine prior to the trade. Price structures are areas the price is moving between. The area may be trending, channeling rising, falling, sideways , converging triangles , expanding, or moving between high and low points ranging. Chances are, on nearly any timeframe, you may see a few of these structures playing out. For swing trading, start with the daily chart and mark all the major highs and lows with horizontal lines.

Then connect recent swing highs with swing highs and swing lows with lows. Look for triangles, channels regression channels can be useful , expanding ranges. These do not need to align perfectly with a trendline!

Then do the same on the 4-hour chart, and possibly the hourly for shorter-term opportunities. I recommend going through this exercise each day on your charts, updating them with the relevant levels and structures before you begin your trading. Make it a part of your daily trading routine. Any pair near the extremes of one of these price structures presents a potential trading opportunity. You will also want to determine what is important based on your time frame.

If you take trades that last a few days, then only the current price structure may be important. If the price moves quickly though, they may become important. Charts provided by TradingView. In the chart above, we have lots of price structures going on. The price has made a few major swing high points. These are marked because the price had strong reversals off those levels. We also note the price has been making lower swing lows. The current structure is tradable, if it presents an opportunity.

If the price moves out of the triangle, my next trading opportunities come when the price gets close to the other levels drawn, OR a new price structure develops. Once the price is near a price structure edge, drop down to lower time frames to look for entries and where to place a stop loss.

The profit target goes on the other side of the price structure. For example, if shorting at the top of a range, place the target just above the prior swing low, not at the exact prior low. In the chart below, if a short was taken near the top of the channel, exit above the prior swing, at the blue line for example.

It will take time and practice to see the price structures that are in play. You will likely miss a lot at the beginning. I still miss some. But once you start to see them, you could trade price structures and nothing else. If using various timeframes, and looking at a list of currency pairs , there are high reward price structures nearly every day. If only swing trading daily, 4-hour, or hourly charts, high-quality trades may not occur every day, but several per week are highly likely.

As mentioned, sometimes you may have multiple price structures going on: one within another, within another. Option one is the easiest. I usually opt for this method. Assume there is a big range on the daily chart. The price is in the middle of that range forming a large triangle. You could buy or sell at the edges of that triangle, with a target on the other side option 1.

You could also place a target near the larger range, assuming that it will eventually reach those edges again. Option 2 is more useful for breakouts, when the price breaks out of one structure and starts heading toward the edge of the next structure.

On the GBPUSD chart above, option 1 is trading the triangle as it is. Option 2 is useful if the price breaks out of the triangle, the other price structures may provide some insight into where the price will head next. Rember to be conservative with the targets. Base your structures on the daily chart or at least a time frame or two higher than what you typically trade on.

This provides your overall context. You can then even drop to a or 5-minute chart to find exact entry points. Place your stop loss, as discussed in the stop loss article. If going short, put your stop loss just above the recent swing high. If going long, place the stop loss just below the prior swing low. Your target is based on the price structure you are trading on the daily chart or a time frame or two higher than what your entry is based on.

Using the daily chart for the profit target, and a smaller timeframe for the entry means a higher reward:risk trade than if everything was based on the daily chart.

This is because you can typically find a much better entry point on the lower time frame. It is in a rising regression channel. The price has reached the bottom of the channel on the daily chart. Since the price is near the bottom of our price structure, we can look for an entry on a lower time frame. A consolidation breakout or a breakout of a small range near the structure edge is a method I commonly use to enter. Other price action signals in the small waves around the edge are beneficial.

I then place my profit target. For this pair, I am looking toward the top of the price structure. Remember to be conservative. A profit target is placed below the prior swing high. The color-coded box shows the entry, stop loss, and target.

We can quickly see that our potential profit green area is much more than our risk red area. But if each winner has a great reward:risk, then we can still make good returns. With a profit target, we are assuming that the market will continue to do what it has been doing.

For a time it may. If it keeps doing what it is doing, we make a nice profit. For example, in the trade above if the price surged higher, breaking above the channel. I like this method because it is based on what we know, right now. We are trading a strategy, knowing that even if we are wrong a lot, with nice reward:risk trades a few winners will more than make up for the losses.

It also forces us to consider scenarios. If the price moves to an edge of a triangle, it could move either direction. We can enter on a breakout, or trade if the pattern continues.

Either way, we have awaited price action to give us a signal, and we have the structures backing us up and providing profit targets. I will exit a trade early if the price is close to my stop loss or target heading into a high impact news announcement event such as non-farm payrolls if trading a US pair or an interest rate announcement in the pairs I am trading.

I will also exit trades early if a new price structure forms. For example, I am trading a big range on the hourly chart. The price then starts moving sideways, forming a smaller range or triangle within the price structure. I will often move my target to the bottom of that new smaller pattern.

Identifying the market structure in forex is not enough, it is important you also know how to read market structure in forex too. As you can trade both ways means you can take a long buy or short sell view in either currency pair, thereby allowing you to take advantage of rising and falling markets. Price structures use support and resistance, candlestick pattern, and pin bar. Start on a higher timeframe to isolate the structure, then drop down to a lower timeframe to pinpoint the entry. Does the price need to be near the trendline or does it have to move past it?

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