Support and Resistance is one of
the universal concepts in trading.
You can apply it to day trading, swing trading, position
trading, and etc.
Thus, if there’s only one thing you can master in technical analysis, it would
be learning how
to trade with Support and Resistance.
However, there
are many myths surrounding it which are not true. For example:
The more times Support is tested, the
stronger it becomes Support and Resistance are lines on your chart
Support
and Resistance are good levels to place your stop loss
And if you follow these theories above, it would cost you
money in the long run.
But don’t worry. After reading this chapter you will learn the truth about Support
and
Resistance — and never look at it the same way again.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
·
The truth about Support & Resistance (it’s
not what you think)
·
Why trading near Support & Resistance gives
you favorable risk to reward
·
How the market really moves Are you ready?
Then let’s get started.
Secret : The more times Support or Resistance is
tested, the weaker it becomes
First, let’s define Support and
Resistance.
Support is an area on your chart
with potential buying pressure.
And Resistance
is an area on your chart with potential selling pressure. An example:
Now:
You’ve probably read trading books that say… the more times Support or
Resistance is
tested, the stronger it becomes.
But the truth is…
The
more times Support or Resistance is tested, the weaker it becomes. Here’s why…
The market reverses at Support
because there is buying pressure to push the price higher.
The buying
pressure could be from Institutions, banks, or smart money that trades in large
orders. But imagine this:
If the market
keeps re-testing Support, these orders will eventually be filled. And when all
the orders are filled, who’s left to buy?
Here’s what I mean:
Pro Tip:
Higher lows into
Resistance usually result in a breakout (ascending triangle). Lower highs into
Support usually results in a breakdown (descending triangle). Let’s move on…
Secret: Support and Resistance are areas on your chart (and not lines)
This is a mistake
I’m guilty of. Treating Support and Resistance (SR) as lines on my chart. Why?
Because you’ll face these two
problems:
·
Price “undershoot” and you missed the trade
·
Price “overshoot” and you assume SR is broken
Let me explain…
Price “undershoot”
and you missed the trade
This occurs when the market
comes close to your SR line, but not close enough.
Then, it
reverses back into the opposite direction. And you miss the trade because you
were waiting for the market to test your exact SR level.
An example:
Price “overshoot” and you assume SR is broken
This happens when the market breaks
your SR level and you assume it’s broken. Thus, you trade the breakout… but
only to realize it’s a false breakout.
So, how do you
solve these two problems? Simple.
Treat Support and Resistance as areas on your chart, not lines.
Secret: Why Support and Resistance are areas on your chart
Because
of these two group of traders…
1.
Traders with the fear of missing out (FOMO)
2.
Traders who want to get the best possible price
(Cheapo) Let me explain:
Traders with the
fear of missing out would enter their trades the moment price touches Support.
And if there’s enough buying pressure, the market would reverse at that location.
On the other hand…
There are traders
who want to get the best possible price, so they place orders at the low of
Support. And if enough traders do it, the market will reverse near the lows of
Support.
But here’s the thing:
You’ve no idea
which group of traders will be in control. Whether it’s FOMO or Cheapo traders.
Thus, Support and Resistance are areas on your chart, not lines.
Make sense?
Support and Resistance can be dynamic
What you’ve learned earlier is
horizontal SR (where the areas are fixed).
But it can also
change over time, otherwise known as, Dynamic Support and Resistance. Now:
There are two
ways to identify Dynamic SR. You can use:
1. 1.Moving average 2. Trend. line Let me explain…
How to use moving average to identify dynamic
Support and Resistance
I use the 20
& 50 MA to identify my Dynamic SR. Here’s an example:
However, it’s not the only way.
You can use 100 or 200 MA, and it works fine.
Ultimately, you must find something that suits you (and
not blindly follow another trader).
Trendline
These are diagonal lines on your chart
to identify dynamic SR. Here’s what I mean:
Pro Tip:
Treat Support and
Resistance as areas on your chart (and not lines). This applies to both
horizontal and dynamic SR.
Secret: Support and Resistance are the worst
places to put your stop loss
I need not
be an Einstein to guess where you’ll put your stops. Below Support and above
Resistance, right?
And why is this
worst place to put your stops? It gets hunted, easily.
So… how do you avoid it?
Well, you can’t avoid it
entirely.
But here are two things you can do…
·
Set your stop loss a distance from SR
·
Wait for candle to close beyond SR Let me explain…
Set
your stop loss a distance from Support and Resistance
You can do this
by using the Average True Range (ATR) indicator. Here’s how to do it in:
1. Identify
the low of Support
2. Find
the ATR value
3.
Take the low of support minus the ATR value
Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense. I’ll cover it in detail in “How to set your stop loss” chapter
Wait for candle to close beyond Support and
Resistance
Here’s how it works…
You only exit your trade if price
closes below the low of support or the high of resistance. Here’s what I mean:
Wait for candle to close beyond Support and
Resistance
Here’s how it works…
You only exit your trade if price
closes below the low of support or the high of resistance. Here’s what I mean:
And here’s something interesting…
Do you know the “real move” usually occurs after traders get stopped out of their
trades?
And you can
take advantage of this scenario by using a trading strategy I’ll share with you
later. But first…
Trading at Support or Resistance gives you
favorable risk to reward
A big mistake traders make is
this:
Entering trades when the market is in the middle of “nowhere”. And this
makes it difficult to place a proper stop loss.
Imagine:
If you are short in the middle of the range, where is a logical place to put
your stop loss?
Above the highs of Resistance?
That’s not impossible but, it requires a large stop loss and offers poor risk to
reward.
Now, what if you are patient and instead of “chasing” the markets, you let the
markets come to
you, how will that change?
Well, since you
are trading from an area of value, you have a tighter stop loss — and this
improves your risk to reward.
Remember… patience pays in
trading. Stop chasing the markets and let the price come to you.
Pro Tip:
Mark out your Support and
Resistance areas in advance.
Then use price alerts to notify you when the market has reached your desired
level.
This prevents you from entering trades out of boredom and to enter trades from
an area of
value (which offers better risk to reward).
When Support is broken, it tends to act as
Resistance (and vice versa)
This is quite an interesting
phenomenon.
When the market breaks below Support, it tends to pullback towards this
same area which has now
become Resistance.
Or, when the market breaks above Resistance, it tends to pullback towards
this same area
which has now become Support.
You’re probably
wondering: “Why is this so?” Here’s why:
There will be traders who go long at Support in anticipation of higher
prices.
But when Support breaks, some of these traders will not cut their losses
(thinking that the
market will eventually go back in their favor).
Now, when the market retraces back towards their entry level, it gives them a
chance to exit
their trade at breakeven.
This incentivizes them to put in a sell order which creates selling pressure.
And
vice versa for those traders who go short at Resistance.
Also, this is common knowledge among traders who expect previous Support
to turn Resistance, and previous Resistance to turn Support — and this
becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy in itself.
Here’s what I mean:
The market moves from Support to Resistance and
Resistance to Support
This may not make any sense to you right now, but let me
explain…
The purpose of a market is to facilitate the transactions between buyers and
sellers (at the
best possible price).
And because of this, the market is a liquidity seeking “mechanism” that
“hunts” for orders so more transactions can occur between buyers and
sellers.
Now ask yourself… “Where on the
chart will there likely be plenty of orders?”
It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that plenty of orders will reside below
Support, from traders who are long (and have their stops placed below
Support), and traders
who are bearish (looking to short the break of Support).
Likewise, there are plenty of orders above Resistance, from traders who are
short (and have their stops placed above Resistance), and traders who are
bullish (looking to
long the break of Resistance).
In other words, Support and Resistance are liquidity areas in the markets — and
it’s no wonder why you often see the price spiking through these levels.
So, what happens after the market
“consumes” liquid in one area?
Well, it starts moving towards the next area of liquidity, thus you’ll often see the
markets
“bouncing” of Support and Resistance.
An example:
Summary
·
The more times Support and Resistance is tested,
the weaker it becomes
·
Support and Resistance are areas on your chart
(and not lines)
·
Support and Resistance can be dynamic
·
Support and Resistance are the worst places to
put your stop loss
·
Trading at Support and Resistance gives you
favorable risk to reward
·
When Support is broken, it tends to act as
Resistance (and vice versa)
·
The market moves from Support to Resistance and
Resistance to Support
In the previous lesson, you’ve
discovered the truth about Support and Resistance.
Now, you’ll learn how to tell when Support and Resistance will break so you
don’t get
caught on the wrong side of the move.
Resistance tends to break in an uptrend
Here’s a fact:
For an uptrend to continue, it has to consistently break new highs. Thus,
shorting at
resistance is a low probability trade.
Support tends to break in a downtrend
Likewise:
For a downtrend to continue, it has to consistently break new lows. Thus,
going long
at support isn’t a good idea.
Support and Resistance tend to break when there’s
buildup
Consider this:
Support is an
area with potential buying pressure. So, the price should move up quickly,
right? Now… what if price didn’t move up and instead, consolidates at Support?
What does it mean?
A sign of weakness as the bulls
couldn’t push the price higher.
Perhaps there’s
no buying pressure or, there’s a strong selling pressure. Either way, it
doesn’t look good for the bulls and Support is likely to break. An example:
And the opposite for Resistance:
Clean VS Chop move and why it matters
One of the biggest secret to trading Support and Resistance is watching
how the price
approaches a level.
Often, newbie traders would wait for a Pinbar or Engulfing pattern at
Support or Resistance
areas. If it forms, they’ll enter the trade.
But a seasoned trader knows not all trading setups are equal —
and he watches how the price approaches a level before
deciding whether he’ll take the trade or not.
Let me explain…
There are generally 2 types of
price action that occurs when the price approaches a level…
·
A chop move
·
A clean move Here’s
what I mean… A chop move
You’re probably wondering:
“What’s a chop move?”
A chop move
usually has a lack of momentum coming into a level. For example:
A chop move into Support has a series
of lower highs coming into it (descending triangle).
This is a sign of strength by the sellers as they are selling at lower
prices — and the price
is likely to break down.
On the other hand…
A chop move into Resistance has a series of higher lows coming into
it (ascending triangle).
This is a sign of strength by the buyers as they are buying at higher
prices — and the price
is likely to break out.
Moving on…
A clean move
A clean move is the opposite of a chop move. It has strong momentum
coming into a level.
For example:
A clean move into Support can be seen by strong bearish
candles approaching it.
The candles are relatively large and most traders would think Support
will break. But more
often than not, the market tends to reverse to the upside.
Why does it happen?
Because traders who are short will take profit at Support and buyers will
get long at Support —
and this creates an imbalance of buying pressure.
Also, new
selling pressure is likely to lurk at swing highs or Resistance areas. Thus,
you can expect a swift reversal back towards these levels.
A clean move
into Resistance can be seen by strong bullish candles approaching it. The
candles are relatively large and most traders would think Resistance will
break. But more often than not, the market tends to reverse to the downside.
Why does it happen?
Because traders who are long will take profit at Resistance and sellers
will get long
at Resistance — and this creates an imbalance of selling pressure.
Also, new buying
pressure is likely to lurk at swing lows or Support areas. Thus, you can expect
a swift reversal back towards these levels.
Now that you’ve understood the difference between a chop and clean move
, how do you profit from
this knowledge?
Simple.
If you want to trade breakouts, then you’ll want to see a chop move
coming into a level. If you want to trade reversals, then you’ll want to see a
clean move coming into a level. And I’ll discuss in more details later.
Summary
·
Support tends to break in a downtrend
·
Resistance tends to break in an uptrend
·
Support and Resistance tend to break when
there’s buildup
· A clean move into SR tends to reverse and a chop move into SR
tends to break