Most traders don’t quit on technical analysis because it “doesn’t work”, they quit because their charts turn into a Christmas tree of indicators that all say something different. The irony is that some of the most consistent traders in the world don’t start with indicators at all. They start with the only thing that truly reflects buying and selling in real time: price.
Price action and structure are the minimalist’s way to trade. No clutter, no signal overload, just a clear read on who’s in control, where decisions are being made, and how the market is likely to respond. Think of it as learning to read the market’s body language instead of relying on subtitles.
Below is a three-step framework to do exactly that.
Step 1: Start With Market Structure
Before you draw a single line, ask one question: “How is this market actually moving?” Structure is the big picture, the skeleton everything else hangs on.
There are only three basic states:
- Uptrend: Higher highs and higher lows. Buyers are consistently willing to pay more.
- Downtrend: Lower lows and lower highs. Sellers keep accepting lower prices.
- Range: Price oscillates between support and resistance. Neither side is in firm control.
All markets spend most of their time doing one of three things.
Example: If Bitcoin is printing a clean sequence of higher highs and higher lows on the 4-hour chart, you’re in an uptrend. Your bias is to buy dips, not to fight the trend with random shorts.
Practical way to see it:
- Mark recent swing highs and lows.
- In an uptrend, connect higher lows with a rising line.
- In a downtrend, connect lower highs with a falling line.
Structure gives you context. It tells you whether your job today is to go with the flow, fade extremes inside a range, or simply wait for a clearer picture.
Step 2: Mark the Levels That Actually Matter
Once you know how price is moving, the next step is to find where decisions are being made. That’s the role of support and resistance.
Support and resistance are decision zones, not single prices.
Support: Zones where buyers have stepped in before and price has bounced.
Resistance: Zones where sellers have previously pushed price back down.
How to spot them:
- Look for areas where price has turned multiple times.
- Pay attention to clusters of wicks rejecting the same zone.
- Note key round numbers and “big figure” levels that attract attention.
These levels aren’t magic; they’re memory. They’re places where a lot of traders made decisions in the past and where many will watch, defend or attack again.
Why they matter:
- In a range, levels define your playing field: buy near support, sell near resistance, or wait for a break.
- In a trend, broken resistance often becomes new support (and vice versa), offering structured pullback entries and logical stop locations.
The better you get at drawing clean, obvious levels – not hundreds of minor ones – the simpler it becomes to plan entries, exits and stop losses with intent instead of guesswork.
Step 3: Let the Candles Tell You the Story
With structure and levels in place, indicators become optional. The final step is reading how price behaves at those key areas through simple candle patterns.
You don’t need a textbook of patterns. Start with three:
-
Engulfing Candle
This is a candle that totally engulfs the prior candle’s body.- Bullish engulfing at support in an uptrend suggests aggressive buying.
- Bearish engulfing at resistance in a downtrend suggests strong selling.
-
Pin Bar / Rejection Wick
This is a candle with a long wick and small body, showing price was pushed away from a level.- Long lower wick at support = buyers rejected lower prices.
- Long upper wick at resistance = sellers rejected higher prices.
-
Inside Bar
This is a candle entirely inside the previous candle’s range.- Signals compression and indecision.
- Often precedes a breakout – the direction is most meaningful when aligned with the prevailing structure.
Keep it simple: just three candle behaviours at key levels.
Example: ETH is in an uptrend and pulls back into a clearly marked support zone. At that level, you see a bullish engulfing candle or a pin bar with a long lower wick. Structure says “uptrend”, level says “demand zone”, candle says “buyers stepping back in” – now you have a coherent story, not just a single signal.
Bringing It Together: A Simple Pre-Trade Checklist
Trading “indicator-free” is not trading blind. It’s trading with a cleaner hierarchy:
-
What is the market structure right now?
- Uptrend, downtrend or range? On which timeframe?
-
Where are the key support and resistance zones?
- Are we near the edges or in the middle of nowhere?
-
What is price doing at those levels?
- Any clear rejection, engulfing, or compression (inside bar) that aligns with the structure?
If all three line up, you have a focused idea. If one is missing – trend unclear, level messy, candles indecisive – you have a built-in reason to wait.
Over time, this approach trains you to think like a price analyst instead of an indicator collector. You start to see markets as sequences of swings, levels and reactions, not as a collection of colored signals that need constant interpretation.
Final Thoughts
Technical analysis doesn’t become powerful by adding more. It becomes powerful when you strip it back to what the market is actually doing: trending, ranging, testing levels, accepting or rejecting prices.
Price action and structure give you a universal language that works on crypto, indices, forex, any liquid market. Indicators can still have a role later, but as supporting actors, not the lead.
If one piece is missing, the trade is not ready.
Start with structure. Mark the levels that matter. Watch how candles behave when price gets there. The more you let price speak for itself, the less you’ll feel the need to hide behind indicators and the clearer your trading decisions become.
PrimeXBT, a global multi-asset broker, provides educational resources on charting, technical analysis and market structure, alongside a risk-free demo environment where you can practise applying those techniques before trading live.
Learn more about trading with PrimeXBT.
