For Business

Trends & Market Structure

What Is a Sideways Market

A sideways market is a stretch of weeks in which the price rises and falls but ends near where it began, staying inside a band. This paper shows you one drawn from thirteen weeks of the pound in early 2024, the idea as a ferry crossing between two banks, the band on the daily chart, the same weeks one candle each, and how the grid on your platform shows a price that never leaves two lines.

Difficulty
Beginner
Reading time
5 min
Pages
8
Reviewed by
Saman Rahbar

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Thirteen weeks that went nowhere

A sideways market is a stretch of weeks in which the price rises and falls but ends near where it began. The pound against the dollar closed at 1.26141 on 2 January 2024 and at 1.25765 on 2 April, 38 pips apart after thirteen weeks — a pip being the fourth decimal place, the smallest step most people count in. In between it rose and fell nine times, never above 1.28928 and never below 1.25172, a band 376 pips tall. Plenty of movement; no journey.

A ferry between two banks

The picture is a ferry crossing a river. It is always moving, and over a day it covers a great deal of water, but it never leaves the river: it goes to the far bank, comes back to the near one, and goes again. The two banks are the top and the bottom of the band. A sideways market is all movement and no journey, and the movement can be large, 376 pips here, without the journey being any longer.

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