Market Structure: The SMC Lens

Structure as narrative

Smart Money Concepts (SMC) is a popular framework that reads price action as the footprint of large institutional orders. Its foundation is classical market structure — swing highs and lows — with specific vocabulary for how trends continue and turn. Whatever you think of the institutional storytelling, the structural mechanics are sound price analysis.

Core vocabulary

• Break of structure (BOS): price takes out the most recent swing point in the direction of the prevailing trend — a continuation signal. In an uptrend, a close above the last swing high is a bullish BOS.
• Change of character (CHoCH): price breaks structure against the prevailing trend for the first time — an early warning that the trend may be turning. In an uptrend, the first decisive break below a higher low.
• Internal vs swing structure: minor structure inside the larger swings. SMC traders often watch internal shifts for entries aligned with the major structure.