Support and resistance: zones where price turned before

Where price turned before

Support is a price area where falls have stopped before: buyers stepped in. Resistance is where rises have stopped: sellers stepped in. Traders find them at previous swing highs and lows, at prices touched several times, and at round numbers — a study of currency orders at a large bank, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, found that take-profit orders cluster at round numbers and stop-loss orders just beyond them. BTC's low on Binance on 6 February 2026 was exactly 60,000.00.

Why would an old price matter again? A common explanation is memory: traders who bought near an old high and watched price fall may sell when it gets back there, to break even; traders who saw a fall stop at an old low may buy there again. Orders gather where many people expect a turn.

A zone, not a line

Prices that "hold" rarely stop at the same dollar. The two March 2026 highs of BTC were 74,050 and 76,000 — almost 2,000 apart. Drawn as one line, either would have been "broken" several times; drawn as a band between them, it describes what price actually did.

Zone — the band between BTC's two March 2026 highs, 74,050 (4 March) and 76,000 (17 March). From 13 to 21 April price closed inside it 6 times, above it twice and below it once, then closed at 78,178 on 22 April. On 29 April price fell back to 74,938 and closed above the zone again on 30 April. On 28 May it closed at 73,618, below the zone, and by 1 July BTC was at 57,800. On 15 September it dipped to 74,968 and closed above the zone the next day. From January to October price traded inside the zone on 35 days and closed inside it on 13.

Old resistance, new support

When price breaks above resistance, that zone is often watched as support on the way back — and the reverse for broken support. In the explainer, the prices that stopped two rises in March stopped a fall at the end of April. Traders call it a role reversal.

Check yourself · 1 of 3BTC turned down at 74,050 and, two weeks later, at 76,000. How is it best drawn?

AAs a line at 74,050, broken two weeks laterBAs a zone from 74,050 to 76,000CIt is not a level, because the two prices differ

Show the answer

Levels are rarely exact to the dollar. A band between the two turns describes both.

Check yourself · 2 of 3Price breaks above a resistance zone, then falls back to it. What is the usual reading?

AThe breakout was fake by definitionBThe old resistance may now act as supportCNothing — the zone stops mattering once broken

Show the answer

That is the role reversal. It may hold — or fail, as the zone in the explainer did in May.

Check yourself · 3 of 3Why do round numbers often act as support or resistance?

AExchanges stop trading at round numbersBMany traders put their orders at round numbersCRound numbers are where the volume profile is highest

Show the answer

Orders cluster at round prices, so more buying or selling waits there.

Takeaways

1. Support: where falls stopped before; resistance: where rises stopped before.
2. Draw them as zones between the turns, not as lines.
3. Broken resistance is often watched as support, and the reverse.
4. A zone describes where orders waited before; it fails as well as holds.

Open BTC in the terminal — support and resistance levels are under the cube button above the chart

Further reading

• Support and resistance, role reversal and round numbers — Wikipedia ↗
• Osler, Currency Orders and Exchange-Rate Dynamics (orders cluster at round numbers) — Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Report 125 ↗
• Kline (candle) data, where this lesson's candles come from — Binance Spot API docs ↗