Which swing earns protection
The rule: the low that produced the break of a prior high becomes the protected low, and stays so until either a new break promotes a successor or its own loss ends the sequence, mirrored exactly for downtrends. Not the lowest low on the screen, not the prettiest, specifically the launcher of the last confirmed break, per the sequencing in market structure.
What its status buys you
Bias discipline: while the protected low holds, pullbacks are pullbacks, however violent they feel, and counter-trend conviction is premature by definition. Stop logic: invalidation beyond the protected swing is placed where the idea factually dies, the structural version of the stop framework. One pivot, both answers.
Reading its loss
When a protected swing breaks on acceptance, closes through, not a wick's visit, the market has cancelled its own trend registration: the character-change sequence begins, and the broken guardian typically converts to opposition on retests. The break of protection is the single most information-dense event structure produces, which is why sweeps that only wick it, harvesting its obvious stops before reversing, are the market's favourite forgery, and why the close-through standard settles authenticity.
FAQ
Is the protected swing the same as the last higher low?
Often but not necessarily: it is specifically the low that launched the last confirmed break. Interim higher lows without breaks earn no protection.
Do wicks through the protected swing break it?
No; protection falls on acceptance, closes through. Wick-only violations are sweep candidates, frequently bullish in an uptrend once reclaimed.
How does the protected swing move?
By succession: each new structural break promotes its launching pivot to protected status, retiring the predecessor.
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