Soft channel reservation in shared spectrum networks is discussed. In network areas where multiple wireless nodes, whether from the same or different network operators, share spectrum using a channel reservation signaling form of contention resolution, an aggressor transmitter listens for a neighbor receiver's receiver channel reservation signal to the neighbor transmitter the neighbor receiver is in communication with. The receiver channel reservation signal includes channel condition information that the aggressor transmitter can use to estimate an interference impact at the neighbor receiver should the aggressor transmitter performs its transmissions to its own receivers. Based on whether this estimated interference impact exceeds or remains within a particular threshold, the aggressor transmitter may decide whether or not to back off of its transmissions until a later time.