TubeSum

Market Structure Basics — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

Lesson 1: Market Structure and Price Movement! Trading from Scratch! Smart Money Course!

0h 16m video Published Mar 23, 2026 Transcribed Aug 21, 2026 S Stocks & Stuff | Alexey Fominov
Beginner 8 min read For: New traders looking to understand market structure and smart money concepts.
AI Trust Score 72/100
⚠️ Average / Some Fluff

"The title promises a beginner-friendly course and delivers exactly that — a clear, structured lesson on market basics."

AI Summary

This video is the first lesson in a Smart Money trading course, focusing on market structure and price movement. The instructor explains the concepts of accumulation and distribution, how to identify trends using structural highs and lows, and how to use Fibonacci retracement levels for entry points. The lesson is designed for beginners and emphasizes practical application on higher timeframes.

[01:40]
Two Stages of the Market

The market has two main stages: accumulation (sideways movement where large players build positions) and distribution (sharp moves up or down where they sell for profit).

[05:03]
Trend Identification

An uptrend is defined by higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend by lower highs and lower lows. These structural points are the basis for trend analysis.

[05:31]
Correction Depth

Corrections typically retrace 70-80% of the move, but can be 20-30% in sharp moves. If a correction exceeds 100%, it signals a breakdown or false breakout.

[07:29]
Sideways Movement

In a sideways market, trade from the extreme boundaries (upper and lower limits). No updates of highs or lows indicate a lack of trend.

[11:26]
Fibonacci Entry Zones

Use Fibonacci retracement levels (0.5 and 0.7) as potential entry points. In an uptrend, these are buying zones; in a downtrend, selling zones.

[14:34]
Higher Timeframes for Clarity

Higher timeframes (4H or daily) have less noise and are recommended for clearer analysis. Practice identifying accumulation and distribution zones on these charts.

Mentioned in this Video

Tutorial Checklist

1 01:40 Identify the two stages: accumulation (sideways) and distribution (sharp moves).
2 05:03 Determine the trend by marking structural highs and lows (higher highs/lows = uptrend, lower highs/lows = downtrend).
3 05:31 Check correction depth: typical 70-80%, but if it exceeds 100%, expect a breakdown or false breakout.
4 07:29 In sideways markets, trade from the extreme boundaries (upper and lower limits).
5 11:26 Use Fibonacci retracement levels (0.5 and 0.7) to find potential entry points in the direction of the trend.
6 14:34 Practice on higher timeframes (4H or daily) to reduce noise and improve clarity.

Study Flashcards (7)

What are the two main stages of the market mentioned?

easy Click to reveal answer

Accumulation and distribution.

01:40

How do you identify an uptrend versus a downtrend?

easy Click to reveal answer

An uptrend consists of higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend consists of lower highs and lower lows.

05:03

What is the typical depth of a correction?

medium Click to reveal answer

A correction typically retraces 70-80% of the move, but can be 20-30% in sharp moves.

05:46

What does a correction greater than 100% indicate?

medium Click to reveal answer

If the correction exceeds 100%, it indicates a breakdown or false breakout.

05:31

Which Fibonacci zones are highlighted as entry points?

medium Click to reveal answer

The 0.5 and 0.7 Fibonacci zones are used as potential entry points.

11:26

How do you trade in a sideways market?

medium Click to reveal answer

In a sideways movement, you work from the extreme boundaries (upper and lower limits).

07:29

Which timeframes are recommended for clearer analysis?

easy Click to reveal answer

Higher timeframes like 4-hour or daily charts have less noise and are recommended for analysis.

14:34

💡 Key Takeaways

⚖️

Two Stages of the Market

Establishes the foundational concept of accumulation and distribution that underpins the entire smart money approach.

01:40
🔧

Trend Identification via Highs and Lows

Provides a clear, actionable method for determining market direction using structural highs and lows.

05:03
📊

Correction Depth Statistics

Gives concrete numbers (70-80% typical, 20-30% in sharp moves) that traders can use to anticipate reversals.

05:46
🔧

Fibonacci Entry Zones

Introduces practical entry points at 0.5 and 0.7 retracement levels, making the theory immediately applicable.

11:26
💡

Higher Timeframes for Clarity

Advises using 4H or daily charts to reduce noise, a key tip for beginners to improve analysis accuracy.

14:34

[00:02] SmartManyoney course. Today, in lesson number one, we'll look at the structure of the market, how our movement is organized, and, accordingly, how we'll make money. That is, let's talk specifically about smartphones, we'll analyze those

[00:15] moments when our structure unfolds, and accordingly, we change the trend. Well, let's also touch on lateral movement a little. So make yourself comfortable. After this video, you'll learn how our price moves and how you

[00:27] can start making money from it. And, accordingly, you will learn to adequately read the market without chaos and without any panic. [music]

[00:42] did a survey, and, accordingly, the market structure won for us. This topic is one of the first that interests you the most . Therefore, today we will analyze the market structure. Yes, I remind you that you will find more information in the link in the description in the

[00:55] community. Well, also, if something suddenly doesn’t work for you, yes, you don’t then write me a private message on VKontakte, yes, the link will also be in the description. Go there and, accordingly, ask me absolutely

[01:10] any question. In general, I advise you to carefully study the description and comments. Well, let's move on to our first lesson. Let's generally figure out what our price consists of, yes, what our smart money consists of. In principle, the concept of

[01:26] movement of money. Accordingly, for us it could be some kind of news money, in general, large cash flows, on which you and I can catch some pretty good

[01:40] movements. In principle, you and I have two stages of the market. When the market is in accumulation, yes, you could say it is shaping itself now, preparing for something , that is, well, it is an analogue of a sideways movement, you could say.

[01:53] Accordingly, this is the accumulation stage for us . And then we have the distribution stage, that is, when we are actively moving upwards somewhere, or when we are actively, for example, from this same point, yes, here we can have this kind of

[02:05] accumulation, and then from this point we fall sharply, for example, downwards. Accordingly, this will be the distribution stage for us . What does this mean for us? Here, for example, our large capital, our smart people, yes, smart

[02:19] accordingly, they were preparing for something. Then, accordingly, we have a sharp shot. We understand that, yes, we have gained a position here. That is, well, to gain a position there for millions, billions of dollars, for example, yes, this is

[02:33] not done there literally in one transaction to buy or sell. This Accordingly, they gain their position in this way. And then, at that moment, yes, they get ready again, and accordingly, after that they start

[02:46] selling sharply. That is, we made a very sharp profit from this movement. That is, they artificially raised the price, yes, and here they realized that they couldn’t go any higher , and at that moment they sold. That is, we had purchases here, we had

[02:59] principle, the entire smart money algorithm, yes, we still have a lot of points that we will analyze in this course. But the most important thing to understand is that let's open a real chart. We

[03:12] can see that we really have accumulation stages and a distribution stage. This is especially clearly visible on higher timeframes, yes, on four hours or even on one day, when we have a fairly long stage, for

[03:26] example, like here, accumulation, yes, that is, we are, you could say, gaining ground on our position. And then, at the moment when we have gained a position, we begin to grow. Here we have, one might say, a stage where accumulation occurs again and

[03:39] then a sharp distribution occurs. Accordingly, where we started, yes, we accordingly, we began to sell. We ended up, accordingly, at the very bottom, where we started. That is, one could say, this is a whole cycle of smart manners.

[03:53] Here we took a position, here we sold it, and, accordingly, here we have already secured, one might say, a full profit. And you can start from this structure looks like in general, yes, specifically on the market. How can we

[04:07] independently find our first structure, yes, conduct an analysis on it and already understand whether we can work on this currency pair or not. Let's look at this section together. What can we see here? Yes, we are

[04:20] specifically interested in this line. That is, you and I can, let's even, well , for example, cut everything off up to here. You and I see here an ideal example of . What's going on here?

[04:34] First of all, we have a structure here, right? We have an upward trend, and accordingly, a small correction, an upward trend, a correction, an upward trend, accordingly, a correction occurs again, an upward trend again, and again a

[04:46] small correction. And here, we can say, our structure is already beginning to break down, since the price has already gone too low, has updated all our minimums, and we understand that here, right here, our upward trend has changed

[05:03] to a downward one. That is, in general, we will look at the upward movement based on our minimums and maximums, right? Just remember this. That is, if we have an we will have an upward maximum, an upward minimum, right? And just like that,

[05:17] here there is a descending high, a descending low. It is by them that we will orient ourselves. That is, we have our main movement, yes, like correction. That is, our correction cannot be, for example, greater than 100%.

[05:31] If it’s more than 100%, yes, we are experiencing a correction, and therefore, a a correction, and therefore, a breakdown is already underway. Or a false breakout, but we’ll may have a correction, well, basically it occurs at 70 to 80% depth. Sometimes

[05:46] occurs at 70 to 80% depth. Sometimes there are cases where it is 20 or 30% if there is a very sharp movement. That is, we can already, yes, do an analysis and correction. For example, you and I have identified approximately half of this movement and

[06:01] we can open our buy trades from here , for example, right? And here we also had a correction of half of this movement. We can open sales transactions. I understand that maybe nothing is clear now, but just a couple more

[06:16] examples and everything will fall into place. It seems like we've figured out how look at how we can use these rising lows and rising highs in practice, and what they give us. Here is a

[06:31] pretty good example. We can draw our structure here. Let's label it. Here we had a downward movement, yes, the corrections were very minimal, minimal. But what does this give us anyway, right? We draw a

[06:45] structure like this. And at the moment we see that we are experiencing the accordingly, we are undergoing this update. That is, at this moment we understand that our structure has either broken down, yes, or a false

[06:58] breakout has occurred. And this is exactly where it happened. And we went further into our, one might say, accumulation. That is, here we no longer had any structure. That is, there was a sideways movement here. From here we take our most extreme point, our descending minimum.

[07:15] mark a sideways movement from it and our last downward maximum. So last downward maximum. So we marked these two points, right? Here we have them . And this will be exactly our lateral movement. That is, according to

[07:29] these boundaries, according to these, one might say, maximums and minimums, we can designate our, for example, yes, upper limit and lower limit. If our price goes somewhere, here we also need to look at deviations, at the exit.

[07:43] . But here we need to look specifically at the reaction. That is, if you and I see that, for example, yes, we have formed our downward maximum, yes, here is a downward minimum, and we have no update, then,

[07:56] accordingly, we have no trend. That is, the price simply moves sideways. If we have this, yes, no matter how our highs and lows are updated, we are simply in global accumulation. When

[08:10] something like this happens to us here, yes, precisely with the confirmation of the renewal of our maximum, we can understand that, for example, an upward movement is really beginning for us. And here we have just begun an ascending

[08:23] structure, yes, we see it. We are updating all of this and, accordingly, growing. Therefore, we can say with confidence that after updating the downward maximum, here, yes, after securing the confirmation, that is,

[08:36] we should still have these two elements formed, yes, our upward maximum and, accordingly, an upward minimum. After this we understand that Accordingly, confirmation will occur when the price, this ascending

[08:49] maximum, breaks through it, forming a new ascending maximum and, accordingly, an ascending minimum. And further along the structure we see how our price constantly updates these ascending highs, and we begin an upward

[09:03] movement. That is, at least with this element we can determine our chatter, yes, we are definitely moving downwards or upwards. In the same way, here we have descending lows, right? If we see that

[09:16] accordingly, we are experiencing a downward movement. With each update, we simply confirm for ourselves, but then at some point we see a situation like this. And, accordingly, yes, it could have happened somewhere here, for

[09:29] maximum nor our minimum are updated, we are, accordingly, in a sideways position . As soon as the update occurs, we begin to have an ascending structure. Accordingly, yes, what was the purpose of all this educational program? The fact is that on an

[09:43] ascending structure, you and I will prioritize buying, and on a descending structure, we will prioritize selling. In the sideways movement, we will work from our extreme boundaries, but we will discuss this in a separate lesson, most likely in the

[09:55] yes, subscribe to the channel and, accordingly, don’t miss these lessons, because there really will be a lot of useful content. Guys, I also want to remind you that if you have any questions, yes, if you have a question about

[10:08] the strategy, if you have a question about some tool, you can always write to me and, accordingly, ask any question. Be it on Telegram, VKontakte, wherever is convenient for you, write there and, accordingly, I will answer you.

[10:20] Therefore, you will find a link to my personal message in the description, as well as in the comments. Write and ask absolutely any question. Remember that the stupidest question is the one not asked. In general, there is more in the description in the comments, and we

[10:32] move on. Let's talk in more detail about how to work with all this, right? Now we are delving deeper into this topic and are already approaching the point where we can open deals somewhere here, yes, at least on such a banal, basic topic.

[10:46] Accordingly, you and I see, for example, that we have a downward movement, yes, that’s the kind of structure we have. We see that our minimums are being updated, and then at some point they stop being updated. Accordingly, as long as

[10:58] the price is from this downward maximum to this downward minimum movement. This is where we have, yes, an exit. We have another confirmation and we are starting to move up. So, look, I was

[11:14] talking about corrections, right? That is, this is a movement in the opposite direction. This will be our correction. Accordingly, you and I understand that we have such a wonderful instrument. And, for example,

[11:26] we have, well, a downward movement, right? And we take our maximum, and accordingly, we pull this instrument towards our minimum. And we understand that you and I have a zone of at least 0.5, which we can already work on. That is, this is just

[11:40] half the movement, yes, but we also have this wonderful zone 07. We'll talk about it in the next lessons. This, one could say, will already be our first entry point from which we can work. That is, you and I

[11:55] stretch the instrument like this and see that from this zone we will indeed often experience a rebound, from which we can work. On an upward movement we will have the same thing . That is, if you and I

[12:07] stretch, then we see either a reaction from 0.5, or, accordingly, our price goes a little deeper. If the movement is very impulsive, then the reaction occurs just from 0.5. If the correction is normal, and

[12:20] there are no impulses in the market right now, then we'll enter zone 07. We'll talk about this in the next lessons. So, our first task is to simply determine the trend, yes, where our price is going and, accordingly, monitor these

[12:35] highs. That is, try even opening a chart and analyzing where is, look, we won’t have structure everywhere, yes . Here, for example, we have, well , it’s not really, let’s say , a structure that follows the manual, but it’s

[12:48] there. And then we have this distribution. That is, all this is our accumulation zone. Accordingly, here we have, roughly speaking, a major Accordingly, they started selling all of this here, and then our market

[13:01] went down. Here again we repeat the same pattern. Therefore, keep an eye on the structural highs and lows. They will let you know whether we are currently experiencing an upward movement or not. If you start opening trades simply according to the

[13:15] trend, that will already be good. This means that you can make money from this. Accordingly, if our structure lasts long enough, yes, we see it with you, maybe not perfectly, maybe not according to the manual, but if it really,

[13:28] yes, seems to move downwards, here, for example, we had such a mini-sideways movement. Look, that is, we have our structural minimum here and our Accordingly, until we have any updates, we will simply be

[13:41] in the sideways position. Then we have a structural minimum, then a structural maximum again, and again we go on sale. While we are updating all this, you and I are going down. We can open sell trades. If we see that we have

[13:54] faded away, then we have to consider the accumulation stage, or lateral movement. Essentially, confirmation, yes, again, of our downward movement. You have noted the structural minimum here. That is,

[14:07] this is the point where our price, for example, was at its peak. Then it goes into correction, yes, and now we also have a structural maximum. If the price does not turns around somewhere here, then we simply continue the downward movement. To

[14:21] you, this looks like confirmation of an essentially downward movement. And you can already work on it. Open the chart yourself and practice, yes, that's how it all looks for us. Be sure to find these elements that

[14:34] accumulation stage for us. I advise you to even open, maybe, a four-hour chart or a daily chart, since they have the least amount of junk. And you will downward movement, for example, here is the

[14:48] stage of accumulation. So, look, we have a descending minimum, right? Here we have a descending maximum. And, accordingly, there was nothing between us. That is, this is a global stage of accumulation. Well, in fact, we had some small

[15:02] local ones here, but if we take it globally, there was no update. That is, this entire stage is simply one global sideways movement for us. Here we are, coming out of it. And, accordingly, we should not now settle, well, roughly

[15:14] speaking, above this value. If we go somewhere up here, we are still in a for example, the euro-Swiss franc currency pair is falling. Therefore, we understand that sales transactions will be much more relevant for us. This

[15:28] was the first topic. Yes, it may be a little confusing, it's unclear why all this is happening, but if you simply understand how our price moves, then all the subsequent elements will fall into place, yes, and they will give you the opportunity to really

[15:41] work. Look again, here we had a sharp accumulation stage. This is where we did our shopping. We have, yes, a sharp upward movement, distribution again, after which we go down. If you learn to define such a base, then all the

[15:54] following elements will fall into place very easily , and, accordingly, you will be able to earn money using the smart structure. Therefore, I advise you to subscribe to this channel, and if you liked the video, then give it a like. I will be pleased, and

[16:07] continue filming. I'll also remind you that you can find even more information via the links in the description. If something doesn't work, write to me on VKontakte and we can communicate there, or via Telegram, whichever is more convenient. In general,

[16:20] comment. On this note, I will say goodbye to you. Be sure to rate this video with a like and a comment. Give me your feedback, because it is important to me. Maybe I missed something, yes, maybe I didn’t tell you something, I don’t deny it. Therefore, if

[16:33] anything happens, we will figure it out in the next lessons. See you soon.

More from Stocks & Stuff | Alexey Fominov

View all

⚡ Saved you 0h 16m reading this? Transcribe any YouTube video for free — no signup needed.