Smart Money
Chart Tool

What Are Smart Money Concepts (SMC)?

Smart Money Concepts (SMC) is a price-action methodology that labels structures such as swing points, breaks, gaps, and order blocks. Traders sometimes interpret these patterns in terms of liquidity and large-participant activity, but a price chart alone does not identify who placed an order or establish their intent.

The chart applies rule-based labels to supported price series and timeframes. These labels describe historical patterns; they do not prove institutional activity or predict future direction.

Key SMC Indicators on Our Chart

Our interactive chart overlays several rule-based SMC indicators on candlestick data for educational market-structure analysis:

• Swing Highs & Swing Lows (SH / SL): A swing high is a local OHLC peak relative to nearby candles, and a swing low is a local trough. The chart uses these historical pivots as reference points and classifies their observed sequence; they do not forecast the next move.
• Break of Structure (BOS): The chart applies this label when a candle closes beyond a previously detected swing point in the same direction as the currently classified structure. A bullish label is a close above a prior swing high; a bearish label is a close below a prior swing low. The label records a completed price event and does not confirm continuation.
• Change of Character (CHoCH): The chart applies this label when price closes beyond a detected swing point opposite the currently classified structure—for example, below a swing low after an upward sequence. "Change of Character" is common trader terminology, not proof that a reversal has begun.
• Fair Value Gaps (FVG): The chart uses this common name for a three-candle OHLC pattern in which the first and third candle wicks do not overlap across part of the middle candle's range. The pattern does not identify fair value, who traded, why it formed, whether price will revisit it, or what direction follows.
• Equal Highs & Equal Lows (EQH / EQL): These labels mark two or more detected swing points within the configured price tolerance. Traders may call the area a "liquidity pool" or describe a later cross as a "stop hunt," but OHLCV data does not reveal stop orders, manipulation, participant identity, intent, or recurrence probability.
• Order Blocks (OB): The chart uses this trader term for the last opposite-color candle before a configured move that also produces a BOS or CHoCH label. Bullish and bearish colors describe the detected pattern only. They do not show pending orders or predict a reaction when price returns.
• Liquidity Sweeps: The chart labels a sweep when price moves beyond a prior swing high or low and then closes back inside the previous range. Some traders use the term "liquidity sweep" for this pattern, but the candles do not prove manipulation or the reason for the move. Labeled circles and dotted lines identify the observed level and candle.

Premium / Discount Zones & EQ50

The EQ50 (Equilibrium) line is the arithmetic midpoint of a selected swing-high-to-swing-low range. "Premium" labels the half above that midpoint and "discount" labels the half below it. These are common SMC terms; the calculation does not estimate fair value, identify buyers or sellers, or indicate future direction.

Key Time-Based Reference Levels

The chart calculates prior-period OHLC boundaries as historical reference lines:

• Previous Week High / Low (PWH / PWL): The highest and lowest prices in the preceding completed week. The lines show prior OHLC boundaries only and do not reveal orders or make a future touch or reaction more likely.
• Previous Day High / Low (PDH / PDL): The highest and lowest prices in the preceding completed day. A later cross may be called a "sweep" by traders, but the timing and candles do not reveal algorithmic activity, liquidity collection, or the session's future direction.
• Previous Month High / Low (PMH / PML): The highest and lowest prices in the preceding completed month. These are historical boundaries, not evidence of institutional entries, targets, stops, or positions.

Supported Timeframes & Assets

The chart controls provide nine timeframes: 1-minute, 5-minute, 15-minute, 30-minute, 1-hour, 4-hour, daily, weekly, and monthly. Availability and history depend on the instrument and data source. The chart supports available US stocks, ETFs, and selected cryptocurrencies, including BTC-USD and ETH-USD.

Reading the Rule-Based SMC Labels

• Compare timeframes: Review how the rule-based labels differ across daily, weekly, and intraday intervals. A label on one interval does not validate a label on another.
• Review labels in context: BOS and CHoCH identify completed closes relative to prior swings. Neither label confirms continuation or reversal.
• Avoid treating overlap as validation: Multiple labels can describe the same underlying candles. Their convergence does not establish a higher recurrence probability.
• Review sweeps as observations: A sweep label records a cross beyond a prior level and a close back inside the range. It does not prove a raid, manipulation, or reversal.
• Use the Position Calculator above: If evaluating a hypothetical trade, enter your own account, entry, stop, target, and risk assumptions. The tool calculates the resulting values but does not prescribe a reward-to-risk threshold.
• Keep the limitation in view: OHLCV patterns cannot reveal participant identity, intent, pending orders, fair value, manipulation, recurrence probability, or future direction.