Support and resistance are the most useful concept in charting — and the easiest to overcomplicate. Keep it simple.
Support is a price where buyers have stepped in before — the floor. Resistance is where sellers have shown up — the ceiling. Markets have memory: price reacts at levels it has reacted at before.
The key insight beginners miss: once broken, roles swap. Old resistance that price breaks above often becomes new support on the way back down, and vice versa. Watching for that retest is one of the highest-probability setups there is.
Mark the two or three levels that are obvious — the ones with multiple clear touches. You don't need a spider web of lines. The cleaner the level and the more times it's been respected, the more it matters.
Buying near well-tested support with a stop just below it gives you a defined risk. Selling into resistance does the same. The levels don't predict the future — they give you sensible places to act and to be wrong cheaply.
See the idea in action — see key support and resistance levels mapped on Bitcoin.
Open S/R BandsCreate free accountHow do I know which levels matter?
The ones price has clearly reacted at multiple times. More touches and cleaner reactions mean a more significant level.
What is a support/resistance flip?
When a broken level swaps roles — old resistance becomes new support (or vice versa). The retest of that level is a common high-probability setup.
Do round numbers act as support/resistance?
Often, yes — psychological levels like $100,000 attract orders and can behave like real support or resistance.