Support & Resistance Psychology

To understand the psychology of activity at support and resistance, we need to first understand the different postures or positions that traders may have at any price point.
When we arrive at a support level, we are going to find traders that are holding long positions, traders that are holding short positions and traders that are holding no positions but are looking to get in.

At the support level, strong buyers are stepping in and prices are starting to hold. Traders with a long position that entered the trend at a wrong point, and were previously in a losing position, are now pleased that their losses are starting to dwindle and that prices will start to move their way. They may in fact be looking to add to their positions. On the other hand, when traders who are short will recognize the support level, they will exit and cover their shorts generating more buying power. Traders that are still outside will fall into two groups, one group realizes that prices are rising and they decide to immediately enter and thus help propel prices higher. The other group is still waiting for prices to dip back so that they can enter at a better price.
So as you can see that there are several groups that are eagerly waiting to buy a price dip. Naturally, if and when prices decline back near support more buying takes place. The support level becomes stronger and prices get an upward lift. Consequently prices continue to push up, until they encounter resistance.
Once again, when we arrive at a resistance level, we are basically encountering supply or strong selling pressure. Recognizing this fact, many traders that are holding long positions will want to get out quickly to capture their profits and thus create an added selling pressure. Traders that did not exit quickly are now dealing with the psychology of watching profits slip away as prices continue to drop before their eyes. They are praying and wishing for prices to move back up to capture a little more profit and capture some of the gains that they just had. As soon as prices pull back up towards resistance they see this as their opportunity to get out and sell their long position. This in turn creates another wave of added selling pressure. Traders on the sidelines are watching prices and they can see that even when prices pulled back towards resistance they dropped again, this gives many traders on the outside their queue to short and get into the market. Sure enough this creates more added selling volume and continues to push prices lower. The resistance point holds and prices continue to drop until buyers decide to step in creating a level of support.
This behavior occurs continuously in the market in every time frame. Consequently, It’s helpful for traders to understand the psychology behind the opportunities that present themselves. It helps them to time their entries better and gain a greater sense of confidence in the market. Knowledge and education are always the best foundation for profitable trading. --source: traderkingdom.com/