A higher high (HH) is a swing high that exceeds the previous swing high. A market making consecutive higher highs and higher lows is in a textbook uptrend; the absence of new higher highs is the first warning that the uptrend is weakening.
Together with higher lows, lower highs, and lower lows, the HH–HL / LH–LL pattern is the backbone of structure-based trend analysis as practiced by Dow theory, Wyckoff, and modern smart-money concepts.
An uptrend is considered intact while higher highs keep printing. The first lower low after a sequence of HHs is often the first formal sign of a trend change.
Example
Prior swing high at 51,000. Price rallies, prints a new swing high at 52,500 — that 52,500 is a higher high, confirming continuation.
How Noon Barbari uses Higher high
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Build structure-based entries →Related terms
- Market structure
Lower low
A swing low that prints below the prior swing low — the signature of a downtrend.
- Market structure
Swing high
A local peak: a bar whose high is higher than the N bars on each side.
- Market structure
Trend
A persistent directional drift in price — up, down, or sideways.
- Market structure
Break of structure (BOS)
Price closing through a prior swing point in the direction of the existing trend.