--- title: "Support and Resistance, Explained - Get Funded Now" description: "Support and resistance are price levels where buying or selling has repeatedly stopped a move. How to draw them, role reversal, and their limits." url: "https://getfundednow.com/learn/support-and-resistance" language: "en" last_modified: "2026-09-22" publisher: "Get Funded Now (getfundednow.com)" translations: es: "https://getfundednow.com/es/learn/support-and-resistance" pt-BR: "https://getfundednow.com/pt-br/learn/support-and-resistance" fr: "https://getfundednow.com/fr/learn/support-and-resistance" it: "https://getfundednow.com/it/learn/support-and-resistance" de: "https://getfundednow.com/de/learn/support-and-resistance" disclosure: "All trading at Get Funded Now is simulated. 'Funded' means a simulated or virtual account; GFN is not a broker and does not hold client funds." --- Price action # Support and resistance: where moves have stopped before. Support is a price level where falling prices have repeatedly stopped or turned up; resistance is a level where rising prices have repeatedly stalled or turned down. Traders draw them from past swing highs and lows and treat them as zones rather than exact prices. A broken level often swaps roles, but none predicts the next move. [All trading lessons](https://getfundednow.com/learn) · [Read the trading rules →](https://getfundednow.com/rules) ## What support and resistance are The idea is memory. If buyers stepped in at a price several times before, traders expect them to be interested there again - and many traders place orders near the same visible levels, which can make the expectation partly self-fulfilling. Levels are drawn from swing highs and lows, previous day or week highs and lows, and round numbers. The more times a level has been tested and the more obvious it is on higher timeframes, the more attention it gets - which also makes it a place where stops cluster, the [liquidity](https://getfundednow.com/learn/liquidity-in-trading) that SMC traders watch. ## Levels are zones, not lines Price rarely turns at exactly the same tick. Drawing a zone - from the wick extremes to the bodies of the turning candles, for example - reflects that, and keeps a trader from treating a small overshoot as a failure or a near miss as a success. Wider zones on higher timeframes, narrower ones on lower timeframes. Whatever the convention, set it before you test a strategy on it. ## Role reversal: when support becomes resistance When price breaks decisively through support, the old support is often watched as resistance on a return from below, and the reverse for broken resistance. The SMC [breaker block](https://getfundednow.com/learn/breaker-block) and [inverse fair value gap](https://getfundednow.com/learn/inverse-fair-value-gap) are more specific versions of the same idea. Breaks fail as well as hold. A move through a level that quickly reverses back is a false break, and it is common around obvious levels. Step by step ## How to identify it Draw levels from the higher timeframe down, and keep only the ones that matter. 1. On a daily or four-hour chart, mark the swing highs and lows where price clearly turned. 2. Group nearby turning points into zones instead of drawing a line at each. 3. Add the previous day's and week's high and low, and nearby round numbers. 4. On your trading timeframe, keep the few zones closest to current price and delete the rest. 5. Decide in advance what a break is - a close beyond the zone, not a wick - and what would invalidate a trade at it. Worked example ## The concept, walked through ### A level that flips, described An illustrative sequence in words, with round numbers standing in for price. It is not taken from any real instrument or date. 1. 1. Support Price falls to 100 three times over two weeks and bounces each time. The trader marks a support zone from 99.6 to 100.2. 2. 2. Break A strong session closes at 98.5, well below the zone. 3. 3. Retest Price rallies back to 99.8, inside the old zone, and stalls. The trader now reads the zone as potential resistance. Whether price turns lower from 99.8 is not part of the definition. The zone told the trader where to pay attention and where a trade idea would be wrong; it did not tell them the outcome. Common mistakes ## Where traders go wrong ### Drawing too many levels A chart covered in lines has a level near every price, which means none of them is informative. ### Treating a line as exact Stops placed a tick beyond an obvious line are where sweeps happen. Think in zones. ### Trading every touch A level is a location; traders usually want a separate reason to act there. Limitations ## What it cannot tell you No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view. - Support and resistance are drawn in hindsight, and two traders will draw different levels on the same chart. - There is no reliable evidence that a level will hold a given number of times; any edge is specific to the trader's rules, market and period. In an evaluation ## Using it on a simulated account Stops just beyond obvious levels are commonly swept before price turns, and a swept stop is a full loss. On a $100,000 simulated account the daily loss limit is $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step; size from the stop, risking something like $500, so that several failed tests in a day stay well inside it. - [What is the daily loss limit?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/daily-loss-limit) - Trading rule - The ceiling a string of failed tests is measured against - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step. - [Does slippage excuse a breach?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/slippage-and-spreads) - Trading rule - Fast breaks through a level are where stops slip. - [What is maximum drawdown?](https://getfundednow.com/rules/max-drawdown) - Trading rule - The overall floor beneath the account. Questions ## Asked about this concept Support is below the current price, where falls have stopped before; resistance is above it, where rallies have stalled before. A broken level often swaps roles. Most traders treat them as zones, because price rarely turns at exactly the same tick. The width depends on the timeframe and the trader's convention. Keep learning ## Related lessons - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/supply-and-demand-zones) - Supply and Demand Zones in Trading - The zones price moved away from sharply - how they are drawn, why fresh zones are watched more than tested ones, and how they relate to order blocks. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/sideways-market) - Sideways Market: How to Spot a Range - What a sideways, or ranging, market is, how to recognise one before a trend strategy is used in it, and how traders approach the range and its breaks. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/divergence-trading) - Divergence Trading: Regular and Hidden - Regular and hidden divergence between price and an oscillator - how each is drawn, what it is taken to mean, and why it is a warning rather than a trigger. - [Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)](https://getfundednow.com/learn/breaker-block) - Breaker Blocks Explained (ICT and SMC) - An order block that failed after a sweep of liquidity and a shift in structure, then treated from the other side. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/uptrend-and-downtrend) - Uptrend and Downtrend: How to Spot a Trend - The swing-by-swing definition of an uptrend and a downtrend, the tools traders use to confirm one, and the point at which a trend is said to end. - [Price action and market structure](https://getfundednow.com/learn/breakout-trading) - Breakout Trading and False Breakouts - What a breakout is, how traders define and enter one, and how to recognise the false breakout - the move through a level that snaps straight back. Sources ## What this page relied on 1. [Support and resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_and_resistance) - Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 September 2026. The definitions of support and resistance and the role-reversal principle. Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. Ready when you are ## Your capital stays yours. The risk is ours. One evaluation fee, no time limits and up to 90% of simulated profits. Pick an account size and your credentials arrive by email within minutes. 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