Support and Resistance Scanner

Stocks breaking a level that has held. Levels matter because many traders watch the same ones. When price finally gets through, stops and new orders tend to pile in.

You do not draw the lines. Trade Ideas works them out from where each stock has traded.

Crossed Daily Highs Resistance (CDHR) tells you how many days of highs the stock just cleared. A break of a 20-day high reads very differently from a break of yesterday's high, and the alert description shows the count.

1. In TI Pro, open a Streaming Alerts window with CARC and CBSC.
2. Add CDHR and CDLS for multi-day levels.
3. Add Relative Volume, Price and Dollar Volume.
4. Save and turn on sound.

Breakouts. Buy the break of resistance, stop back under the line.

Breakdowns. Short the loss of support.

Failed breaks. A break that reverses back through the line fast is its own setup.

See the breakout scanner for range and channel breaks.

A resistance line is drawn where a stock has traded a lot but not gone above. The more trading near a price without getting through, the stronger the line. Support is the mirror image.

Trade Ideas works these out from each stock's own trading, so you get levels on every stock without drawing anything.

Real levels are zones, a few cents wide on cheap stocks and more on expensive ones.

A channel is support and resistance that slope together. Channel Breakout (CHBO) and Channel Breakdown (CHBD) fire on breaks of the channel, up or down.

Broken resistance often becomes support, and broken support becomes resistance. Some traders wait for price to come back and test the old line before acting.

Add Relative Volume (RV) so you see breaks with volume. The confirmed alerts already require it.

Pivot levels are another kind of support and resistance, built from yesterday's high, low and close. Distance From Pivot (Pivot), Distance From Pivot R1 (PivotR1) and Distance From Pivot S1 (PivotS1) show distance to them.

1. A stock has stalled near the same price three times this morning. Trade Ideas has a resistance line there.
2. Price pushes through on a burst of buying. CAR fires right away.
3. Volume keeps coming, and CARC fires a little later with confirmation.
4. A trader using this setup might enter on the break, with a stop back under the line, and watch whether the old resistance holds as support on the first dip.

If you trade fast stocks and want the first look, use CAR and CBS. If you would rather see fewer, stronger alerts, use CARC and CBSC. Many traders keep the confirmed ones on sound and the unconfirmed ones silent.

You do not draw anything. Each alert description gives the level and how long it held, so you can check it on the chart.

Example numbers, not a real trade

1. Yesterday’s high was $41.50. Today the stock tests it at 9:50 a.m. ET and fails.
2. At 10:40, it pushes through. CDHR fires, naming the number of days of highs crossed.
3. Relative Volume is 2.2. A trader buys at $41.60 with a stop at $41.10, under the level.
4. If price closes the next 15 minute bar back under $41.50, the break is treated as failed.

• Was the level tested more than once? More tests usually mean more orders waiting there.
• Is volume on the break above normal?
• Did the confirmed version (CARC or CBSC) fire, or only the first-tick one?
• Is the market moving the same way?
• Is there room to the next level, or is another one a few cents away?

Many traders put orders at whole dollars, so $50.00 can act as a level even without a past turn. Decimal (Price Cents) (Dec), Decimal (Price Cents), looks only at the cents after the decimal point, so it can find stocks sitting right at a whole dollar, like $24.98 to $25.02. Position in Previous Day's Range (RPD) shows where price sits in yesterday’s range, which is another set of levels traders watch every day.

Our learning center covers how to draw and use zones instead of single lines: support and resistance zones.

Crossed Daily Highs Resistance (CDHR) fires only when the number of days in the new high changes. A stock crossing a 5 day high fires once, then fires again if it clears a 10 day high, and so on. The description tells you which. Crossed Daily Lows Support (CDLS) does the same on daily lows. This makes the alert a quick way to see when a stock moves through layer after layer of old highs.

The premarket high and low act as the first levels of the day. Position in Pre-Market Range (RPM), Position in Pre-Market Range, reads 100 at the premarket high and 0 at the low. Set a min of 100 to see stocks breaking out above it once the bell rings, or a max of 0 for breakdowns.

Floor trader pivots are calculated from yesterday’s high, low and close. Distance From Pivot (Pivot) shows distance from the main pivot, and Distance From Pivot R1 (PivotR1) and Distance From Pivot S1 (PivotS1) show distance from the first resistance and support levels. Set a narrow range around zero to see stocks sitting right on one.

Level break window

Run the confirmed versions in the main window and the first-tick versions in a second, quieter one. You will see the early break and the confirmation separately.

Yesterday’s high and low are the levels almost every trader has on the chart. Position in Previous Day's Range (RPD) reads 100 at yesterday’s high and 0 at yesterday’s low.

Prior-day high break

Prior-day low hold

Whole dollars, and especially $10, $50 and $100, draw orders. Decimal (Price Cents) (Dec) looks only at the cents, so a window with it set to find prices within a couple of cents of a whole dollar shows stocks sitting right on one.

Round-number test

A break of a round number on volume can run to the next one. A stall right under it is a common place for longs to take profit.

Lines are zones, not exact prices. Expect some back and forth.

Unconfirmed alerts fire sooner and fail more.

Test your rules in a simulated account first.