Trend is direction plus persistence
One wide candle is a print. A trend is a sequence that keeps making progress in one direction and does not give that progress back on the next few swings. If you cannot point at the swing that would end the trend, you do not have a definition. You have a mood.
Multi-timeframe congruence
Congruence means the timeframes you chose agree on direction. The higher timeframe is the master chart. It answers long or short, or neither. The lower timeframe is the entry chart. It answers when, and only after the master chart has a direction. If the master chart is up and the entry chart is still making lower highs inside that uptrend, you do not yet have an entry. You have a pullback that has not ended. If the two charts point at opposite directions, you do not have a setup. You have a conflict, and the rule of this chapter is to stand aside.
- Master chart: direction, or no direction.
- Entry chart: timing, and only in the master direction.
- Disagreement: no trade. Do not average the two opinions.
Time candles and Renko, as ideas
A time candle closes because the clock ran out. A Renko brick prints because price moved a set distance. Time is hidden. That is useful when you want the swing and not the quiet minutes. It is dangerous when you forget that a brick can represent one minute or one hour depending on the brick size and the pace of the market. Brick size is not set here, and there is no chart workspace with this chapter. The idea you need today is the difference: clock versus distance.
The alignment you can already use
Pick the master chart first and write the direction in a sentence a stranger could check. Then open the entry chart and ask only whether it has started to agree. Agreement is a swing in the same direction, not a candle color. If you cannot write the sentence, the master chart does not have a trend yet, and the entry chart is not allowed to invent one.
The Renko brick-size lab and the chart workspace are not in this chapter. The checks cover congruence, not software setup.
