Once you can mark swing points, you can describe what the market is doing in a few words. There are only three states: up, down, or sideways.
Uptrend
An uptrend is a sequence of higher highs (HH) and higher lows (HL). Each push up goes further than the last, and each pullback holds above the previous low. As long as that pattern continues, the uptrend is intact.
Downtrend
A downtrend is the reverse: lower highs (LH) and lower lows (LL). Each rally fails below the last one, and each decline goes further.
Ranges
A range is price moving sideways between a fairly stable high and low, with no clear higher highs or lower lows. Many markets spend more time ranging than trending. Ranges are where beginners lose money by seeing trends that are not there, and by trading breakouts that fail.
Defining a trend with rules
"It looks like it is going up" is not a definition. A rule might be: "The market is in an uptrend while the most recent swing low is above the one before it. It stops being an uptrend when price closes below the most recent higher low." Notice that this rule is the idea behind a change of character, which you will study later.
Trends end, and ranges end
No state lasts forever. Uptrends become ranges, which become downtrends. Your job is not to predict when, but to notice when the rules that defined the state stop being true.