Support and resistance

Support and resistance are names for zones where the auction has stalled or turned before.

• Support is a region where buyers have previously been willing to step in, so price has bounced or slowed there.
• Resistance is a region where sellers have previously been willing to step in, so price has stalled or turned down there.

Those are historical observations. A zone does not have a duty to hold this time. Markets revisit old areas often enough that the language is useful, and they break those areas often enough that treating a touch as a trade is a habit I want you to avoid.

Zones, not tripwires

Price is not a laser. Spreads, wicks, and session noise mean a “level” is usually a band. If you draw one hairline and put a stop a tiny distance beyond it, you are often stopped by ordinary movement, then left watching the idea work without you — or stopped, then watching it keep going against you. Neither experience proves the line was magic.

A poke through a zone can leave the bigger idea intact, or it can be the first evidence the zone has failed. You decide, in advance, what would count as a failure. That decision is invalidation, and it belongs with the idea, not after you feel uncomfortable.

The flip is a picture, not a rule

Traders talk about a broken support zone becoming resistance, or the reverse. You can see that picture in some charts, including in the examples. You can also find charts where price slices through and never looks back. A flip is one way a market sometimes redistributes; it is not a law, and it is not a published edge here.

A habit to practice

On a public chart, shade two zones with a width, not a line. Write one sentence for each: “This is support/resistance because of these prior reactions. I would call it broken if price does ___.” Leave the next lesson to turn a broken idea into a size. Do not invent a trade just because you have a tidy rectangle.