Resistance

Resistance is a price level or zone where rising prices have historically stalled or reversed because selling pressure outweighed buying interest. It is the mirror image of support. Resistance forms where earlier buyers who are at a loss sell to break even, where profit-takers exit, and where traders open short positions expecting the level to hold — all of which adds supply as price approaches the zone.

For example, if Ethereum rallied toward $3,500 several times over a few weeks and pulled back on each attempt, the area around $3,500 would be marked as resistance. Traders would then watch whether the next approach is rejected again or whether price breaks through. A decisive close above resistance, especially on strong volume, is called a breakout, and the broken level often starts acting as support on later pullbacks.

A common misconception is that resistance is a hard ceiling; it is a zone where reversal becomes more likely, not certain, and heavily tested levels can weaken as the sell orders sitting there get absorbed. Round numbers such as $100,000 for Bitcoin often act as psychological resistance simply because many orders cluster at them.