--- title: "Break of Structure (BOS) vs CHoCH - Get Funded Now" description: "BOS means break of structure: price breaking a swing point in the trend's direction. How it differs from a change of character (CHoCH), with examples." url: "https://getfundednow.com/learn/break-of-structure" language: "en" last_modified: "2026-09-22" publisher: "Get Funded Now (getfundednow.com)" translations: es: "https://getfundednow.com/es/learn/break-of-structure" pt-BR: "https://getfundednow.com/pt-br/learn/break-of-structure" fr: "https://getfundednow.com/fr/learn/break-of-structure" it: "https://getfundednow.com/it/learn/break-of-structure" de: "https://getfundednow.com/de/learn/break-of-structure" disclosure: "All trading at Get Funded Now is simulated. 'Funded' means a simulated or virtual account; GFN is not a broker and does not hold client funds." --- Market structure # Break of structure and change of character. BOS stands for break of structure: price moving beyond the latest swing point in the trend's direction - above the last higher high in an uptrend, below the last lower low in a downtrend. It is read as continuation. A change of character (CHoCH) is the first break the other way, an early warning of a possible turn. [All trading lessons](https://getfundednow.com/learn) · [Read the trading rules →](https://getfundednow.com/rules) ## Market structure in one paragraph Price moves in swings. An uptrend is a sequence of higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend is a sequence of lower highs and lower lows. Market structure is simply the record of those swing points, and structure analysis is the habit of asking which swing, if broken, would change the picture. Smart money concepts did not invent this - it is classical trend analysis with a newer vocabulary - but BOS and CHoCH are the terms most traders now search for. An uptrend of higher highs (HH) and higher lows (HL). Each break above the prior high is a BOS. After a lower high (LH), the break below the last higher low is the CHoCH. Illustrative schematic, not market data: no instrument, price or date is shown. ## BOS in an uptrend and a downtrend In an uptrend, a BOS is a move above the most recent higher high. It confirms, in hindsight, that the pullback before it was a higher low, and the trend is intact. In a downtrend, the BOS definition flips: it is a move below the most recent lower low, confirming that the bounce before it was a lower high. Traders disagree about what counts as the break. Some accept any trade beyond the swing point; others require a candle body to close beyond it, and treat a wick through and back as a [liquidity sweep](https://getfundednow.com/learn/liquidity-in-trading) rather than a break. The close rule produces fewer, later signals; the wick rule produces more false ones. Choose one and apply it consistently. ## CHoCH vs BOS A change of character is the first break of structure against the prevailing trend. In an uptrend, it is a move below the most recent higher low - the level that had to hold for the trend to remain intact. In a downtrend, it is a move above the most recent lower high. The ICT vocabulary more often calls this a market structure shift (MSS), and many traders require it to happen with displacement - a fast, large-bodied move - before they treat it as meaningful. Different names, same event. **BOS and CHoCH compared** | | Break of structure (BOS) | Change of character (CHoCH) | | --- | --- | --- | | Direction | With the trend | Against the trend | | In an uptrend | Break above the last higher high | Break below the last higher low | | In a downtrend | Break below the last lower low | Break above the last lower high | | Usually read as | Continuation | Possible reversal - an early warning, not a confirmation | | Also called | Continuation break | Market structure shift (MSS) | ## Internal and external structure Which swings count depends on the timeframe. A higher low on a daily chart contains a whole sequence of highs and lows on a fifteen-minute chart. Traders often distinguish external structure - the major swings that define the higher-timeframe trend - from internal structure, the smaller swings inside it. An internal CHoCH against the daily trend is frequently just a pullback. Most structure-based errors come from reading an internal break as if it were an external one. Step by step ## How to identify it Structure is only as reliable as the swings you mark. Mark them first, on one timeframe, before you look for breaks. 1. Pick the timeframe whose structure you are trading, and mark its obvious swing highs and lows. Skip minor wiggles. 2. Label the sequence: HH and HL for an uptrend, LH and LL for a downtrend. 3. Identify the swing that must hold for the trend to continue - the last higher low in an uptrend, the last lower high in a downtrend. 4. A break beyond the last extreme in the trend's direction is a BOS. A break of the level that had to hold is a CHoCH. 5. Apply your break rule consistently: wick or candle close. 6. Check the higher timeframe before acting on a CHoCH. If it is internal to a larger trend, treat it as a pullback until proven otherwise. Worked example ## The concept, walked through ### From BOS to CHoCH, described An illustrative uptrend in round numbers, described in words. It does not represent any real market. 1. 1. The trend Price makes a low at 100, a high at 120, a higher low at 110 and a higher high at 135. The move above 120 was a BOS. 2. 2. A second BOS After a higher low at 124, price rises to 150, breaking above 135 - another BOS, continuation confirmed. 3. 3. The lower high Price pulls back to 138, rallies only to 146 - below the 150 high - and turns down. 4. 4. The CHoCH Price closes at 134, below the 138 higher low. That is a change of character: the level that had to hold for the uptrend has broken. 5. 5. The read A structure trader now stops looking for longs on this timeframe and waits to see whether a lower-high, lower-low sequence develops. A CHoCH is an early warning, and early warnings are wrong often. Price could reclaim 138 and make a new high, turning the CHoCH into a failed break. Structure tells you which level matters; it does not tell you which way price will leave it. Common mistakes ## Where traders go wrong ### Marking too many swings If every minor pullback is a swing, every candle is a break. Structure becomes meaningless below a certain level of detail. ### Reading an internal CHoCH as a reversal A lower-timeframe change of character inside a higher-timeframe uptrend is often the pullback that precedes the next BOS. ### Switching between wick and close rules Using whichever rule fits the chart after the fact makes every break look right. ### Treating a BOS as an entry A BOS tells you the trend continued. By the time it prints, price is often extended; most structure traders wait for a pullback. Limitations ## What it cannot tell you No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view. - Swing points are identified with some lag and some judgement. Two traders marking the same chart will not always agree on the structure. - Structure describes what price has done. A trend confirmed by a BOS can end on the next candle. - Ranging markets produce repeated CHoCH signals in both directions, and structure analysis is weakest exactly when there is no trend - see [sideways markets](https://getfundednow.com/learn/sideways-market). In an evaluation ## Using it on a simulated account Structure gives you a clean invalidation level - the swing that must hold - which is also a natural stop. Size the position from that distance, not the other way round, and keep the loss if it is hit within the daily limit. On an evaluation, the biggest structure-related risk is repeated re-entry after a CHoCH has already said the trend may be ending. Two or three counter-structure losses in one session are how a daily loss limit gets breached. - [What is the daily loss limit?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/daily-loss-limit) - Trading rule - Measured on floating and closed losses together - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step. - [What is maximum drawdown?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/max-drawdown) - Trading rule - The floor beneath the whole account, which repeated re-entries erode. - [What are the profit targets?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/profit-target) - Trading rule - What a structure-following approach is trying to reach within the rules. Questions ## Asked about this concept BOS stands for break of structure. It is a move beyond the most recent swing point in the direction of the trend, taken as confirmation that the trend is continuing. In a downtrend, a break of structure is a move below the most recent lower low. It confirms that the bounce before it was a lower high and the downtrend is intact. Broadly, yes. Both describe the first break against the prevailing trend. Traders who use the term market structure shift often add a requirement that the break happens with displacement. Keep learning ## Related lessons - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/order-block) - Order Blocks in Trading, Explained - The last down-close candle before a strong rally, or the last up-close candle before a strong drop, marked as a zone of interest. - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/liquidity-in-trading) - Liquidity in Trading: Pools and Sweeps - Buy-side and sell-side liquidity, equal highs and lows, and what traders mean when they say price swept a level. - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/breaker-block) - Breaker Blocks Explained (ICT and SMC) - An order block that failed after a sweep of liquidity and a shift in structure, then treated from the other side. - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/smart-money-concepts) - Smart Money Concepts (SMC) Explained - What SMC and ICT mean, the core vocabulary in the order it is usually learned, and an honest account of what the framework can and cannot do. - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/smt-divergence) - SMT Divergence in Trading, Explained - One of two normally correlated markets makes a new high or low and the other does not. What the disagreement is taken to mean. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/sideways-market) - Sideways Market: How to Spot a Range - What a sideways, or ranging, market is, how to recognise one before a trend strategy is used in it, and how traders approach the range and its breaks. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/support-and-resistance) - Support and Resistance, Explained - The levels where price has repeatedly stalled or turned - how to draw them as zones, why broken levels flip roles, and what they cannot tell you. Sources ## What this page relied on 1. [Break of structure](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/break-of-structure/) - LuxAlgo Library. Retrieved 22 September 2026. BOS as a break with the prevailing trend and CHoCH as the first break against it. 2. [Smart money concepts / ICT concepts](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/family/smc-ict/) - LuxAlgo Library. Retrieved 22 September 2026. The scope of the SMC/ICT vocabulary and how its concepts are grouped. Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. Ready when you are ## Your capital stays yours. The risk is ours. One evaluation fee, no time limits and up to 90% of simulated profits. Pick an account size and your credentials arrive by email within minutes. [Start your challenge →](https://getfundednow.com/challenges) · [Read the rules](https://getfundednow.com/faq) No subscriptions or hidden fees Payouts every 14 days $400,000 max total allocation --- Source: https://getfundednow.com/learn/break-of-structure Facts about Get Funded Now in one file: https://getfundednow.com/llms.txt