Support and resistance
Support and resistance are levels where price previously stopped or turned. Support sits below the price, resistance above it.
How it works
At support, buyers start to outweigh sellers and the decline slows. At resistance it is the other way round: sellers are stronger and the rise stalls. It is usually a zone a few tenths of a percent or a few pips wide, not an exact line.
A level matters more if price reacted to it several times, if strong moves started there and if it shows on higher timeframes (daily, weekly). Round numbers such as $60,000 or 1.1000 often act as levels too.
Once a level breaks and price holds beyond it, it often flips roles: old resistance becomes support and the other way round. Traders use levels to find entries, place a stop-loss beyond the level and set targets just before the next level.
BTC bounced from the $58,000–58,300 zone three times in a month. That is support. You might look for a buy near the zone with a stop below it, say at $57,500, and a target just before resistance at $62,000.
EUR/USD failed at 1.1000 for weeks. Then it broke through, closed above and came back to 1.1000 from above (a retest). Old resistance acted as support and the rise continued.
A common mistake is drawing a level at every small wiggle and treating levels as exact lines. Your stop then sits right on the level and gets taken out by an ordinary wick. Mark only clear zones from higher timeframes, keep your stop a little beyond the zone and wait for price to react instead of entering blindly on the first touch.
Questions and answers
What are support and resistance in simple terms?
Support is a floor price has bounced up from, resistance is a ceiling it has turned down from. They are the places where supply and demand traded control before.
How do I find support and resistance levels?
Open a higher timeframe and look for places where price turned or paused several times. Mark them as zones rather than thin lines, and add round numbers.
What happens when support or resistance breaks?
If price holds beyond the level, it often flips roles: resistance becomes support and vice versa. False breakouts happen too, so many traders wait for a retest.
Related terms
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Updated: 2026-10-19