Finding Intraday Support and Resistance on ES
If your ES chart looks like a coloring book, you’re doing support and resistance wrong. ES doesn’t care about your random lines — it reacts to real auction levels. This guide gives you the levels that actually matter intraday and how to map them without overthinking.
1. Prior Day High and Low
These two levels matter more than anything else on your chart. Institutions anchor liquidity around them. ES constantly retests, rejects, or blasts through these levels because that’s where positions from yesterday are trapped or freed.
| Level | Impact |
|---|---|
| Prior Day High | Major resistance and liquidity pool |
| Prior Day Low | Major support and liquidity pool |
If you don’t understand why liquidity clusters here, read ES Liquidity Pockets.
2. Opening Range High and Low
The opening range sets the tone for the session. Price respects these boundaries all day long. Breaks of OR levels often lead to trend continuation or complete reversals depending on volume and ATR.
If you haven’t learned opening range mechanics, check Opening Range Strategies.
3. Session VWAP
VWAP is a magnet on ES. Price pulls back to it repeatedly throughout the day. When ES is trending hard, VWAP acts as dynamic support or resistance; when ES is balanced, VWAP chops traders who don’t understand structure.
4. Key Intraday Swing Points
These are the most recent, obvious swing highs and lows on the chart. ES uses these points to define structure and break of structure (BOS). They help you track the direction of the auction without guessing.
5. Premarket Levels
High, low, and midline of the premarket session often act as soft intraday levels once RTH opens. Not as strong as prior day or OR, but still useful markers for intraday bias.
Final Takeaway
You don’t need twenty lines on your ES chart. Mark prior day levels, opening range, VWAP, and obvious swings. That’s it. ES reacts to real structure, not imaginary lines, so keep your chart clean and focus on the auction.