Breaker Block vs Support and Resistance
Michael Whitman
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Trading since 2017, full-time since 2020
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YouTube creator, 137K subscribers
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Published 2026-09-08
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Updated
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Reviewed
Breaker blocks are drawn on the final candle against the move before a level broke, an area a little beyond the old level. Support and resistance reads the broken level itself as the place price should now be turned back. Both describe the same flip; they put the line in different places.
A level breaks and price comes back to look at it from the other side. Support and resistance calls that the flip; the breaker block draws the same idea one candle deeper. On SPY the two lines were usually a short distance apart, and price nearly always met the old level first.
What each one is
Support and resistance treats a broken level as a level that has changed sides. Broken support is expected to act as resistance on the way back up, and the reverse. Support and resistance covers how the level is drawn.
A breaker block sits one candle deeper. It is the final candle against the move before that level gave way, and its range, not the level, becomes the area to watch once the break close has cleared it. Breaker block covers the candle rule.
Both are polarity flips. The disagreement is about where to put the line: on the price that broke, or on the candle that came just before the break.
Where they differ
Where the line sits. For a downward break, the swing low that broke usually sits below the breaker candle, so a rally back meets the old level first and the breaker second. For an upward break the order is mirrored.
How far price has to come back. The old level is closer to the break close than the breaker is, so it is reached more often and sooner. The breaker asks for a deeper return.
How the line is drawn. A swing level is one price, while the breaker is a range, the whole high to low of one candle, which gives a wider area and a different invalidation.
How many people are looking at it. A swing low that broke is visible on any chart, whereas a breaker drawn from a last-candle rule depends on the reader using the same rule.
The retest that comes first
Price came back to the old level almost every time. Of 364 SPY breakers with 20 sessions still to come, the broken swing level was retested in 322, or 88.46%. That is not special to a broken level. A line set at the same percentage gap from the close after each of the other structure breaks in the same direction was reached 84.96% of the time (p = 0.07), and one set after any session at all 85.60%.
It came quickly. The median retest was 1 session after the break, and 168 retests happened on the very next day.
The flip held no more often than a line chosen without it. The retest session closed back on the break side of the old level in 162 of the 322 retests (50.31%). The comparison line after other breaks did so 52.32% of the time (p = 0.50). Against a line set after any session the rate was 45.34%, but that comparison mixes in quiet stretches with no break behind them, so the like-for-like figure is the one after other breaks.
The breaker was often never needed. Price went on to reach the breaker candle in 246 of the 322 retest cases, 99 times on the retest day itself and 10 times before the level. In 47 cases the old level held and price never got as far as the breaker within 20 sessions.
Which one to use: Breaker Block or Support and Resistance?
Use the broken level when you want the retest that actually arrives. It is reached first and most often, and it is the line other chart readers are watching.
Use the breaker when you only want to act on a deeper return. It filters out the shallow retests at the cost of missing every move that turned at the old level.
Use both when you can say in advance what you will do if price closes between them. That close means the level has failed while the breaker has not, and you need to know which one you were trading.
And when neither line has been written down before the break, use neither. Drawing the flip after the reaction makes every flip look clean.
Between the level and the candle: SPY, February 2023
The break. On 1 February 2023 SPY closed at $410.80, above the $410.49 swing high of 13 December 2022, an upward break. The last down candle before it was 30 January, with a range of $400.28 to $405.13.
The retest. On 6 February, three sessions later, the low dipped to $408.10, under the old level, and the session closed at $409.83, 66 cents beneath it. By the support and resistance reading the flip had failed.
The breaker’s turn came later. Price had not touched the candle yet. On 10 February the low reached $405.01, inside the area, and the close of $408.04 sat back above its top, so by the breaker reading the return held. One line had already failed while the other was only now being tested, and each reading would have recorded a different trade.
The original data
The sample. Every SPY trading day Yahoo Finance lists from 29 January 1993 to 2 October 2026; only breaks from 1996 onward are used, as before then the recorded open often equals the prior close. A swing level needs five bars on each side and breaks on a close past it; each breaker is the latest candle of the opposite color before its break, kept when the break close clears its full range.
The retest rule. For each breaker with 20 sessions to come (364), the first of the next 20 sessions whose high (after a downward break) or low (after an upward one) reaches the broken swing level. The flip holds when that session closes back on the break side of the level; a close exactly on the level does not count as held, while a high or low that only touches it does count as a retest. The comparison line sits at the same percentage gap from the close, but it is placed after each of the other structure breaks in the same direction, so it also follows a break; a second version places it after any session since 1996. Exact binomial tests against those rates treat each break as independent, so the p values are approximate.
The counts. Retested 322 of 364 (88.46%); held 162 of 322 (50.31%); breaker also reached 246, on the same day 99, before the level 10; level held with the breaker never reached 47. Comparison rates after other breaks 84.96% (p = 0.066) and 52.32% (p = 0.50); after any session 85.60% (p = 0.135) and 45.34% (p = 0.074). Every breaker and its retest date are in the SPY breaker table with retest dates.
When it fails
The failure is picking the line after seeing where price turned. A break happens, price rallies and stops. If it stopped at the old level, the trade is called a support and resistance flip; if it stopped higher, the candle there is called a breaker. Either way the chart shows a success, because the line was chosen to match the turn. On SPY the old level held on about half its retests, slightly less often than a line the same distance away after other breaks.
The second failure is a stop placed exactly on the old level. Retests usually come the next day and often trade through it.
A third is treating a fast retest as a strong one. Most retests arrived within a session.
A fourth is ignoring the space between the two lines. A close between them is common enough to plan for.
And a fifth is no expiry. This page allows 20 sessions.
Related
Breaker block gives the last-opposite-candle rule behind every count here. Support and resistance explains why a broken level is expected to change sides. And break of structure sets out the swing rule both readings depend on.
Mark the broken level and the breaker candle before price comes back, and write down which one your trade depends on. They are often a few dollars apart, and on a busy day price can close between them.
— Michael Whitman
This page is educational, not financial advice. Test every idea on your own charts before risking money.