The contract has backed down from a six-week contract peak of 871 reached last Thursday.
Volume was 2,880 lots drawn from a total of 4,042.
"It had a go at trying to go higher but there's been a bit of a sell-off," one trader said. "It's come off and is heading back towards very familiar territory."
Prices were shuffling within an 812-836 price band, basis March, for almost two weeks before last week's turn higher.
May gained four pounds to 850 pounds a tonne on turnover of 527 lots on Tuesday.
The market is wary of a break below the $1,500 a tonne level on the New York Board of Trade, a second dealer said. The March cocoa contract was trading eight dollars higher at $1,533 a tonne soon after opening.
South African President Thabo Mbeki will send a mediation team to Ivory Coast on Tuesday to urge the country's rebels to return to government and begin disarming, Ivory Coast's leader Laurent Gbagbo said on Monday.
Ivorian rebel leader Guillaume Soro said on Monday that he was not guilty of serious human rights abuses during the country's civil war and neither the threat of legal action or sanctions would make him weaken his demands.
COFFEE ENDS STEADY: London's coffee futures closed flat on Tuesday with prices deadlocked between consumer buying and producer selling, but with volumes boosted by technical trading, dealers said.
"The market is stuck," one trader said. "We have trade and industry buying below and at market levels, and a little bit of origin selling."
Another floor source also noted some light speculative interest.
Liffe's benchmark March nudged down $1 to close at $766 a tonne after turning over 6,512 lots in a $772-760 band. May lost $1 ending at $791 on 3,819 lots.
Total turnover was 11,441 lots, inflated by technical activity.
Traders reported over 4,000 trade Against Actuals on the March contract and 1,300 lots of March/May spreads.
March/May robusta spreads covered a 28-20 range and closed at 25.
"We had a bit of arbitrage buying since New York went up a bit earlier this afternoon," a third trader added.