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CandleStick Charts
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Support & Resistance

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Support and Resistance
form the foundation of most chart patterns. 

The key to support and resistance is to understand that the market has a memory.

Unlike trendlines, support and resistance lines may or may not reflect trend. They may slope up in a bear market or down in an bull market. Support and resistance lines represent areas of buying and selling interest, regardless of trend.

A support level is the price at which buyers are expected to enter the market in sufficient numbers to take control from sellers.

When price falls to a new low and then rallies, buyers who missed out on the first trough will be inclined to buy if price returns to that level. Afraid of missing out for a second time, they may enter the market in sufficient numbers to take control from sellers. The result is a rally, reinforcing perceptions that price is unlikely to fall further and creating a support level.

Resistance

A resistance level is the price level at which sellers are expected to enter the market in sufficient numbers to take control away from buyers.

When price makes a new High and then retreats, sellers who missed the previous peak will be inclined to sell when price returns to that level. Afraid of missing out a second time, they may enter the market in numbers sufficient  to overwhelm buyers. The resulting correction will reinforce market perceptions that price is unlikely to move higher and establish a resistance level.

But wait... because if support levels are breached, once they are penetrated they frequently become resistance levels, and likewise resistance levels may become support levels!

The logic is rather simple: buyers who purchase near a support level, only to see the price fall, are likely to sell in order to recover their losses when the price rallies to near their break-even point. The support level then becomes a resistance level.

Likewise, stockholders who sell when price approaches a resistance level will be quite disappointed if the price penetrates the level and continues to rise. They will be inclined to buy if price returns to near the support level, fearing that they may miss out a second time. The resistance level thus becomes entrenched as a support level.

Some support and resistance levels are more important than others.

The significance of the support level can be identifiable by the number of times that the level has been respected, the amount of volume that has been traded near that level, whether the level is old or new (recent levels have greater significance), whether the level is a new High or new Low (more extreme levels have greater impact) or whether a level formed at a round number (e.g. $40.00 or $200.00).

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