Trading Support and Resistance Isn't About Luck
You've probably heard people talk about drawing lines on charts. Maybe you've tried it yourself and wondered why your levels never seem to hold when the market hits them.
Here's what I've learned over years of watching traders struggle: most people jump straight into marking up charts without understanding what they're actually looking at. They treat support and resistance like magic lines that tell the future.
But that's not how it works. Before you start drawing anything, you need to understand what these levels really represent – and why the market respects them in the first place.
Trang Lê Phương
I spent three years losing money before I figured out what I was doing wrong. Now I help traders in Vietnam understand market structure before they risk their capital. The difference between guessing and knowing is everything.
Four Problems Everyone Faces
These aren't theoretical issues. They're real obstacles that stop people from trading effectively. And each one has a practical solution that doesn't involve buying expensive software or following someone else's signals.
You mark a support level, price comes down to it, breaks through like it wasn't even there. This happens because you're placing levels where you think they should be, not where the market actually shows accumulation or distribution.
What Actually Works
- Look for where price paused multiple times, not just touched once
- Check volume at those levels – consolidation zones matter more than wicks
- Use higher timeframes to validate what you see on lower ones
- Accept that no level is permanent when market conditions shift
Monday your analysis makes sense. Tuesday the same chart looks completely different. This inconsistency comes from changing your approach based on recent trades rather than sticking to a systematic method.
What Actually Works
- Define your timeframe priorities before you start analyzing
- Mark only the levels that show up on at least three separate occasions
- Keep a reference chart that doesn't change with your mood
- Review your marked levels weekly, not after every trade
Every indicator gives you different signals. Social media traders contradict each other. You end up with so many lines on your chart that you can't see price action anymore. Paralysis sets in when you need to make a decision.
What Actually Works
- Start with just price and volume – remove everything else temporarily
- Add back one tool at a time only if it answers a specific question
- Ignore analysis that uses more than three indicators simultaneously
- Focus on what price does at levels, not what indicators predict
Someone asks why you entered a trade and you can't give a clear answer. Or worse, you realize you entered because "it felt right." Trading based on intuition instead of identifiable patterns leads to inconsistent results you can't improve.
What Actually Works
- Write down your reason for marking each level before placing a trade
- Use a simple checklist – if you can't check all boxes, don't trade
- Record what happened at your levels to build pattern recognition
- Review failed setups to identify what you missed in your analysis
Getting Ready to Trade Levels Properly
This isn't complicated, but it does require some preparation. Skip these steps and you'll keep making the same mistakes. Follow them and you'll start seeing patterns you missed before.
Clean Your Chart Completely
Remove every indicator, every drawing, every line. Yes, all of them. You need to see what price actually does without the clutter. Most people resist this step because they feel naked without their favorite tools. Do it anyway. You can add things back later, but start with nothing but candlesticks and volume.
Choose One Market to Study
Don't try to analyze stocks, forex, and crypto simultaneously. Pick one market and study it for at least three months. Different markets move differently. The VN-Index behaves differently than EUR/USD. Learn one thoroughly before expanding. This focus builds pattern recognition faster than jumping around.
Establish Your Timeframe Hierarchy
Decide which timeframe you'll use for context and which for entries. A common approach: daily chart for levels, four-hour chart for confirmation, one-hour for entry timing. Write this down and don't change it based on whether your last trade worked. Consistency in timeframe analysis prevents the chaos most traders create.
Mark Historical Levels Without Trading
Go back six months on your chosen market. Mark every level where price showed clear reaction – not where you think it should have reacted, but where it actually did. Do this for two weeks without placing any trades. This exercise trains your eye to see what matters instead of what you want to see.
Document What Happens at Your Levels
Create a simple spreadsheet. Each level gets a row. Record what happened when price reached it: did it bounce, break through, consolidate? Over time, you'll see your accuracy improve because you're learning from actual market behavior rather than theoretical concepts. This data becomes your trading education.
Ready to Build Your Foundation?
We run a structured program starting September 2025 that takes you through level identification systematically. But you don't need to wait for that. Start with the steps above and see how your chart reading changes over the next month.