Glossary · Chart and price

Trend line

A straight line drawn through successive lows in an uptrend, or highs in a downtrend, to show the trend's direction and slope.

By Sky Trade editorial teamUpdated November 5, 2026

A trend line connects at least two swing points in the direction of the trend: rising lows for an uptrend, falling highs for a downtrend. A third touch that holds makes the line more convincing. Traders use it to see the slope of a move, look for entries on touches and spot the moment a trend weakens.

Trend lines are subjective. Wicks or bodies? Which two points? Different choices produce different lines, and it is tempting to redraw a broken line until it “still works”. A good discipline is to draw it once, through obvious swing points, and accept it when it breaks.

What a break means is also often overstated. A broken uptrend line doesn't automatically start a downtrend; often the market just slows into a range. Steep lines break quickly; shallow ones last longer but say less.

Adding a parallel line on the opposite side turns a trend line into a channel. In the Sky Trade terminal the trend line and ray tools are in the drawing panel. For a full walkthrough, see trend lines and channels.

Example

USD/CHF lows at 0.8810 and 0.8835 define a rising line. Price returns to the line near 0.8852 and bounces; a later close at 0.8838, well below the line, ends its usefulness.

Learn more in the academy

Trend lines and channels: drawing rules, breaks and mistakes
How to draw a trend line through swing points without forcing it, how to build a price channel, what a trend-line break really means and common errors.

Related terms

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