Every trend contains pullbacks. If you treated each one as a possible reversal, you would be wrong most of the time. The difference between an ordinary pullback and a change of character comes down to which level was broken and how.
The level that matters
A pullback that stays above the most recent higher low is just a pullback: the structure is intact. A CHoCH requires a close beyond that specific level. Everything above it is noise by this definition.
Scale matters
A close below a higher low on a five-minute chart is minor compared with the same event on a daily chart. Always say which timeframe you are describing. A lower-timeframe CHoCH inside a higher-timeframe uptrend is very often just a pullback in the bigger picture.
How decisive was it?
Observe, without treating any of these as certainties:
- Speed: a sharp, strong move through the level suggests more conviction than a slow drift beneath it.
- Body size: large bodies beat small ones.
- Follow-through: does price hold below the level, or snap back above it?
- Context: did it break at an area where a reversal would make sense, or in the middle of nowhere?
Use a written definition
Write your rule, for example: "On the four-hour chart, a CHoCH is a candle body closing below the most recent higher low." Applying it mechanically removes the temptation to call every dip a reversal.