A trend is a sequence of swing highs and lows. An uptrend shows higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend shows lower highs and lower lows. Trends are defined relative to a timeframe: a weekly uptrend can contain daily downtrends. Structure breaks are observations, not predictions.
Support is a price zone where buying interest has previously halted declines; resistance is where selling has halted advances. They are zones, not exact lines, and they fail often. Prior levels are context, not guarantees.
Each candle shows open, high, low and close for a period. Long wicks indicate rejection of a price range within that period. Single-candle patterns have weak standalone reliability; study them alongside structure and volume.
Volume measures participation. Moves on rising volume are generally considered more significant than moves on thin volume, but volume data quality differs by asset (it is unreliable for spot forex and some index instruments).
A moving average smooths price over N periods. Common references are the 20, 50 and 200-period averages. They lag price by construction and perform poorly in sideways markets, producing frequent false signals.
RSI oscillates between 0 and 100 and measures the speed of recent price changes. Readings above 70 or below 30 are commonly labelled overbought or oversold, but strong trends can stay in those zones for long periods.
MACD plots the difference between two exponential moving averages and a signal line. It is a momentum and trend-following tool and shares the lag and whipsaw weaknesses of moving averages.
Any analysis technique can be wrong. Educational concepts to study: position sizing, risk per trade as a percentage of capital, diversification, leverage risk in F&O, and the high loss rates among individual derivatives traders documented in SEBI's published studies.
Technical analysis is interpretive, subject to hindsight bias and has no proven edge for every user or market. Backtests overstate real results because of costs, slippage and overfitting.
Want to practise? Open the Chart Workspace and observe these concepts on assets of your choice.