{"slug":"retest","term":"Retest","category":"Technical Analysis","definition":"A retest is price returning to a broken level to check whether it holds from the other side — old resistance acting as new support after a breakout, or old support as new resistance after a breakdown. A successful retest confirms the break and offers an entry with a far tighter stop than chasing the breakout candle.","street":"Let the level prove it flipped — the retest is the patient trader's discount on the same breakout.","depth":["The mechanics: a breakout leaves late shorts trapped above old resistance and unfilled bids parked at it, so when price dips back, both groups defend the level — shorts covering, buyers finally getting their fill. A clean retest looks like a shallow pullback on shrinking volume, a tap of the old level, and a decisive rejection candle away from it. Entry on the rejection, stop just beyond the zone — risk the chase candle never offered.","The trade-off is honest: the strongest breakouts never come back, so waiting for retests means occasionally watching a runner leave without you. That's the fee, and it's worth paying — the retest improves your price and your stop on every break that does return. The trap is calling every dip a retest: if price closes back through the level, the flip failed and you're looking at a failed breakout, not a discount. Don't average into it — the level just told you the break was bait."],"live":{"label":"Watch the retest play out live","href":"/charts"},"related":["breakout","support-resistance","liquidity-sweep"]}