Support and Resistance


Support & Resistance lines - make or break price points

Support and resistance lines conform the most basic analytical tools and are commonly used as visual markers to trace the levels where the price found a temporary barrier. In other words, where price had trouble crossing.

From a strategic point of view, support and resistance levels represent smart places to anticipate a reaction in the price of an asset, and therefore represent a basic tool in technical analysis.
Numerous traders use them, but the diversity in application and integration tell us that charting is definitely not an exact science and more of an art.

One of the most common mistakes that new traders make is buying too close to a line of resistance or selling too close to a line of support. In this page we provide enough set-ups and real-time examples, to make sure you thoroughly understand this simple yet important dynamic.

Latest Support & Resistance News

Support and Resistance Levels


Price zones

Don't be disappointed if S&R lines haven't worked for you until now. You see, in reality, support and resistance are price zones, not exact numbers. This is clearly visible when switching from a higher timeframe to a lower one: an horizontal line on a weekly chart can perfectly be made by an horizontal price channel on a one hour chart.

This is why it often what appears to be a break of a support or resistance level is just the market testing it. These 'tests' of support and resistance are usually represented by the candlestick shadows piercing the S&R levels.
If the market were made by S&R lines and not by people, then the exchange rate would always rise and fall to the same exact price points, over and over again.

But because that rarely happens it's important to think of support and resistance as zones on the chart where people buy and sell.

One way to induce the habit to treat S&R lines as zones is drawing them with fat lines, avoiding a fine-point trace. That way you won't fool yourself into believing you have identified the exact price at which a currency pair is going to turn around and start moving in the opposite direction. And even better: draw the lines, especially the horizontal ones using two lines, an upper and a lower one, or use rectangles to mark the zones. Your chart platform has all these fancy tools for sure.

Identifying Supply and Demand

There where the difference between the number of buyers and sellers get more remarkable, it tends to form a Support or Resistance level. Your next logical quest will be to identify them on a price chart.

Historical and potential levels, can lead to several constructs: horizontal lines and dynamic trendlines are the most used ones and can be based on significant highs and lows. Lines are also used to delineate price channels as well as classical chart figures such as triangles and wedges.

Some technical indicators can act as potential levels, such as sentiment chartmoving averages, Pivot Points and Fibonacci cycles which are commonly used in Elliott Wave analysis.

Round numbers - those quotes ending in 00 or 50- and emotional spikes are often perceived as Support and Resistance levels.

When these levels encompass a larger area on the charts technicians speak of a Support and Resistance Zone.

TOP BROKER

Latest Support & Resistance Analysis


Latest Support & Resistance Analysis

Editors' picks

AUD/USD weakens further as US Treasury yields boost US Dollar

AUD/USD weakens further as US Treasury yields boost US Dollar

The Australian Dollar extended its losses against the US Dollar for the second straight day, as higher US Treasury bond yields underpinned the Greenback. On Wednesday, the AUD/USD lost 0.26% as market participants turned risk-averse. As the Asian session begins, the pair trades around 0.6577.

AUD/USD News

EUR/USD stuck near midrange ahead of thin Thursday session

EUR/USD stuck near midrange ahead of thin Thursday session

EUR/USD is reverting to the near-term mean, stuck near 1.0750 and stuck firmly in the week’s opening trading range. Markets will be on the lookout for speeches from ECB policymakers, but officials are broadly expected to avoid rocking the boat amidst holiday-constrained market flows.

EUR/USD News

Gold price drops amid higher US yields awaiting next week's US inflation

Gold price drops amid higher US yields awaiting next week's US inflation

Gold remained at familiar levels on Wednesday, trading near $2,312 amid rising US Treasury yields and a strong US dollar. Traders await unemployment claims on Thursday, followed by Friday's University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey.

Gold News

Bitcoin price drops, but holders with 100 to 1000 BTC continue to buy up

Bitcoin price drops, but holders with 100 to 1000 BTC continue to buy up

Bitcoin price action continues to show a lack of participation from new traders, steadily grinding south in the one-day timeframe, while the one-week period shows a horizontal chop. Meanwhile, data shows that some holder segments continue to buy up. 

Read more

Navigating the future of precious metals

Navigating the future of precious metals

In a recent episode of the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference podcast, hosted by Jesse Day, guests Stefan Gleason and JP Cortez shared their expert analysis on the dynamics of the gold and silver markets and discussed legislative efforts to promote these metals as sound money in the United States.

Read more

Strategies

Chart Patterns

Signatures


Educational Resources