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

EUR/USD declines below 1.0700 as USD recovery continues

EUR/USD declines below 1.0700 as USD recovery continues

EUR/USD lost its traction and declined below 1.0700 after spending the first half of the day in a tight channel. The US Dollar extends its recovery following the strong Unit Labor Costs data and weighs on the pair ahead of Friday's jobs report.

EUR/USD News

GBP/USD struggles to hold above 1.2500

GBP/USD struggles to hold above 1.2500

GBP/USD turned south and dropped below 1.2500 in the American session on Thursday. The US Dollar continues to push higher following the Fed-inspired decline on Wednesday and doesn't allow the pair to regain its traction.

GBP/USD News

Gold slumps below $2,300 as US yields rebound

Gold slumps below $2,300 as US yields rebound

Gold extended its daily slide and dropped below $2,290 in the second half of the day on Thursday. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield erased its daily losses after US data, causing XAU/USD to stretch lower ahead of Friday's US jobs data.

Gold News

Top 3 Price Prediction BTC, ETH, XRP: Altcoins to pump once BTC bottoms out, slow grind up for now

Top 3 Price Prediction BTC, ETH, XRP: Altcoins to pump once BTC bottoms out, slow grind up for now

Bitcoin reclaiming above $59,200 would hint that BTC has already bottomed out, setting the tone for a run north. Ethereum holding above $2,900 keeps a bullish reversal pattern viable despite falling momentum. Ripple coils up for a move north as XRP bulls defend $0.5000.

Read more

Happy Apple day

Happy Apple day

Apple is due to report Q1 results today after the bell. Expectations are soft given that Apple’s Chinese business got a major hit in Q1 as competitors increased their market share against the giant Apple. 

Read more

Strategies

Chart Patterns

Signatures


Educational Resources