Support and Resistance in Technical Analysis

Support and resistance analysis forms part of technical analysis and dictates that price movement will tend to stop and reverse at predefined price levels.Support and resistance analysis defines major junction points where variations in supply and demand meet. Let’s take a deeper look into elements of support and resistance trading.

What is “Support”?

Support level is defined as the price level at which point the demand level is strong enough to stop the trading price from declining further. When prices reach this support level it is more likely to bounce off this level, than to break through this level.

The support level indicates the point at which the trading price becomes cheaper and traders become more interested in buying, giving way to a support level where sellers become less interested in selling.

When prices reach the support level it is proved that the increase in demand will outweigh the supply and prices will be stopped from falling below the level of support. When prices decline below the level of support, there is an indication of new willingness to sell. This may also be the case if there is a new unwillingness to buy.

Once the level of support breaks, the cycle will repeat from the start – A decrease in price will awake new interest in buying and a new level of unwillingness to sell -giving way to a new level of support This will form the new lower-level support level.

Support trading can usually be found below the current price, but it is not impossible to trade at or very near support. Support levels are not always easy to identify due to various factors. Price movement is by nature volatile and prices may briefly dip through the support level, before returning upwards. Predicting the point, at which a price is considered to be breaking through the support line, comes with experience and research. Some will only consider this breakpoint if the price closes 1/8 below the current established support level.

What is “Resistance” and “Resistance Level”?

Resistance level is defined as the level at which selling is considered strong enough to hamper the price from increasing any further. The level of resistance theory defines that as a price moves towards resistance, sellers become more willing to sell, and buyers in turn become more unwilling to buy. When the price reaches the level of resistance, supply will outweigh demand and the price will be prevented rising through the resistance level. A break above the resistance level predicts a new willingness to buy and a new lack of interest in selling.

Resistance will not always be strong enough to hold and a breakout might not always be able to break. The bulls must win the bears over before a breakout can be formed. Once the current resistance level has been broken through, the process will repeat and a new higher level of resistance is establishes.

We hope you have found our article on support and resistance trading interesting and that you will now be more confident about support and resistance analysis. Feel free to browse our website for more informative articles on support and resistance trading.