Support, Resistance & Trendlines
Before any indicator or strategy, you need to know where price tends to pause, bounce, or break. Support and resistance are the map every trader is reading — even when they don't say so.
What is Support?
Support is a price level where buying pressure consistently outweighs selling pressure. Every time price drops to this level, buyers step in and push it back up. The more times price touches a level without breaking below it, the stronger that support becomes.
Think of support as a floor. It doesn't last forever — eventually the floor breaks — but until it does, it represents a high-probability area for price to reverse.
Support level diagram
What is Resistance?
Resistance is the mirror of support — a price ceiling where selling pressure consistently outweighs buying. Every time price rallies to this level, sellers step in and push it back down.
Resistance level diagram
Role Reversal
One of the most important concepts in technical analysis: when support breaks, it becomes resistance. And when resistance breaks, it becomes support.
This happens because traders who bought at support (and now have losing positions) will sell at that same price when it's retested — to break even. Their selling creates the new resistance.
Trendlines
A trendline is a diagonal support or resistance line drawn by connecting a series of swing highs or swing lows. Unlike horizontal levels, trendlines are dynamic — the level changes as time passes.
- Uptrend line: connect at least 2 swing lows. The more touches, the stronger the line.
- Downtrend line: connect at least 2 swing highs.
- Require a minimum of 2 points to draw, but 3+ touches give genuine significance.
- Steeper trendlines break more often. Shallow, gradual trendlines tend to be more durable.
Uptrend trendline
Common Mistakes
Support and resistance are zones, not precise numbers. Price often dips slightly below support before reversing — this is a 'wick through' and doesn't always mean the level has broken.
If your chart is covered in lines, none of them are significant. Prioritise the clearest, most-tested levels and ignore the rest.
A resistance level on the weekly chart is far more powerful than one on the 5-minute. Always check higher timeframes before making decisions on lower ones.