Concept
Retest
Retest, also known as throwback, is a Trend concept. The Library holds 3 implementations, each one a working definition you can pull into Quant.
Top Retest indicators
3 total
What is a Retest?
A retest is a return to a level that price has already broken, approached now from the other side. After a breakout above resistance, price dips back to touch the broken line; if the old ceiling now behaves as a floor, the level has flipped, the textbook role reversal. Classical charting used finer vocabulary: a 'throwback' returns to broken resistance and a 'pullback' to broken support, but modern usage calls both a retest.
The retest matters because it is the breakout trader's confirmation mechanic. The initial break proves little by itself; plenty of breaks fail within a few bars. A return that holds the level shows traders defended the new side, and it offers a precise invalidation point: the level itself. The cost of waiting is real, though. Not every breakout retests, so retest-only entries systematically miss the strongest moves, and a retest that holds is still no guarantee of continuation.
How to identify a retest
A retest needs three ingredients: a level, a confirmed break, and a return. The sequence matters more than any single bar.
- 1Mark the level that broke: a horizontal S/R zone, range boundary, or trendline that price closed through decisively rather than merely wicked.
- 2Wait for price to rotate back to that level from the breakout side. The return often arrives within a few bars, but it can take much longer, or never come at all.
- 3Judge the touch: rejection wicks and a close back in the breakout direction argue the level held; a full-bodied close back through it converts the event into a false breakout signal instead.
How traders use it
- As an entry technique: enter on the retest with a stop just beyond the level, so the trade is wrong exactly where the level-flip thesis is wrong. This trades a later entry for tighter, better-located risk.
- As breakout validation: a held retest upgrades confidence that the break was genuine, while a failed one flags a trap early, often before the crowd that chased the initial break has exited.
- Across timeframes: a common pattern is to take the break on a higher timeframe and execute the retest entry on a lower one, where the touch and rejection resolve in finer detail.
- As a management aid: traders already positioned from the break may add on a successful retest or trail stops behind the retested level once it has held.
Retest vs related concepts
Pullback: A pullback is any counter-trend dip inside a trend; a retest specifically revisits a broken level. A retest often unfolds as a pullback to the level, but most pullbacks are not retests.
False Breakout: The same return separates them: a retest holds the broken level and continues in the breakout direction, while a false breakout closes back through the level and returns to the prior range.
Role Reversal: Role reversal is the principle (broken resistance becomes support, and vice versa); the retest is the observable event that puts that principle on trial.
Related concepts · Trend events
Concept family
Trend
100 concepts mapped · 88 in the Library
Retest FAQ
Do all breakouts get retested?
No. Some breakouts run without ever returning to the level, especially fast, high-volume ones, while others retest days later or several times. No reliable universal frequency exists across markets and timeframes, so a retest is best treated as one acceptable entry scenario rather than something to count on.
How do I know if a retest held or failed?
Watch closes, not touches. Wicks probing through the level with closes back on the breakout side are consistent with a hold; one or more full-bodied closes beyond the level argue failure. Many traders also want the reaction to start promptly, since price sitting flat on a retested level suggests nobody is defending it.
What is the difference between a retest and a throwback?
A throwback is the classical charting term for price returning to broken resistance from above after an upside breakout; the classical 'pullback' is the mirror at broken support. 'Retest' is the modern umbrella word for both directions, and most current material uses it regardless of which side the level broke.
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