Support
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Support is a price area where buying interest has previously been strong enough to stop a fall. As price returns to that area, buyers often step in again, so the market pauses, bounces, or at least slows. Support is a zone rather than an exact line, and the more times it has held, the more traders watch it — until it eventually breaks.
Full explanation
Support forms where earlier demand outweighed supply: prior swing lows, consolidation bases, round numbers, session lows and moving averages all commonly act as support. When support breaks decisively it frequently becomes resistance on the retest, a behaviour known as polarity. Treat support as an area of interest that must be confirmed by price behaviour, not as a guarantee of a bounce.
Why traders watch it
Support gives structure to entries, stops and targets. Selling straight into strong support, or placing a stop just inside it, is a recurring beginner mistake.
Related indicators
Asian session
The overnight session driven by Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, typically quieter and range-bound.
Clear direction
When one side is plainly in control: price makes progress one way and pullbacks are shallow.
Consolidation
A pause in which price moves tightly sideways, often after a strong move, while the market absorbs it.
First spike
The sharp, immediate move in the seconds after a release or a level breaks — usually the least reliable part of the whole move.
High-impact news
A scheduled release with a strong record of moving markets sharply — for example inflation, employment data or an interest-rate decision.
Holding a move
When price stays at its new level after a move instead of drifting back — the sign that the move was accepted.