Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) shares ticked higher on Friday, but don't let that fool you. The streaming giant has been sliding since early July, and it's now arrived at a price level that could determine what happens next.

Here's the setup: Netflix has found itself at an important support level, and if the pattern holds, the downtrend might finally be over.

Supply, Demand, and Why Stocks Actually Move

It's easy to overthink this stuff, but sometimes the basics matter most. Markets run on supply and demand, plain and simple.

When there are more sellers than buyers in a stock, the price drops. Sellers start undercutting each other, lowering their asking prices to attract buyers. That's how downtrends happen—it's just people competing to get their shares sold.

The dynamic flips when a stock hits a support level. Suddenly, there are enough buyers willing to step in at that price. Sellers can offload their shares without having to keep dropping the price lower and lower.

Looking at the Netflix chart, there's clear support around $83. Selloffs stopped there in January and April, and now the stock has landed at that same level once again.

What Makes Stocks Bounce Off Support

Support levels don't guarantee rallies, but they create the conditions for one. What happened after those January and April touches? Netflix rallied.

Here's the psychology: some of those buyers sitting at the support level get anxious. They start worrying that other buyers might be willing to pay more, and they don't want to miss out. They know sellers will take the highest bid, so they raise their offers.

Other anxious buyers see this happening and follow suit. Before you know it, you've got competing buyers pushing prices higher instead of competing sellers dragging them lower. That's how support levels can flip into uptrends.

Now that Netflix has reached this support zone for the third time this year, there's a decent chance it reverses course and heads higher again. Whether that actually happens depends on whether those buyers show up with the same energy they did before.