Core Concepts
Hard Close Candle
A candle that opens and closes beyond a structural level in trend direction
A hard close candle is a candle that opens AND closes beyond a key structural level, in the direction of the prevailing trend. It provides the strongest confirmation that a break of structure is valid, because it proves all lower timeframes have already closed beyond that level.
✓How to Recognize
- •Candle opens beyond the structural level
- •Candle closes beyond the structural level
- •Candle color matches trend direction (bullish in uptrend, bearish in downtrend)
- •All lower timeframes have closed beyond the level
⚡How to Avoid
- →Counting counter-trend candles as hard closes (bearish candle above a broken high is NOT a hard close)
- →Using wick-only breaks as confirmation
- →Ignoring candle direction when assessing the break
- →Relying on hard close on very low timeframes where noise is high