Lower Low

A lower low is a swing low on a chart that falls beneath the previous swing low, and together with lower highs it defines a downtrend in classical market-structure analysis. Each new lower low shows sellers are willing to accept worse prices than before; when subsequent bounces also peak below the prior peak (lower highs), the sequence confirms supply is in control and rallies are being sold.

For example, if Ethereum bottoms at $3,100, bounces to $3,300, and then falls to $2,950, the $2,950 trough is a lower low, and the $3,300 bounce is a lower high if the prior peak was above it. A trader respecting market structure would treat the asset as trending down until price breaks above the most recent lower high, which would be the first structural evidence of a possible reversal.

A common misconception is that every dip below a prior low confirms continued weakness; crypto markets frequently wick just below an obvious low to trigger clustered stop-losses and then reverse sharply — a stop sweep or fakeout — which is why many traders require a candle close below the prior low before counting it. Lower lows are also relative to timeframe: an hourly chart can print lower lows during an ordinary pullback within a healthy daily uptrend.