The answer to your question is fairly simple in that investors/traders/algos whoever, look at the chart and see these resistance points and place limits there.
The older the time of resistance, support...the less bearing it has to push through, or pullback. For instance, 2004 resistance shouldn't be too hard to punch through, but, its still there on the chart, and still a point of interest for people trading. If you had the same resistance with big volume from 2010, it wuold probably be more difficult to push through because there are probably more people who STILL own stock from that point that are looking to get out.
Time is key, but the resistance/support is still there.
oh, btw, length of time it spent trading at a level and volume is key, likewise.