Pivot points
Support and resistance levels calculated from the prior period's high, low, and close — used, especially by day traders, as likely turning points for the current session.
What the numbers mean
There is no lookback to set — the levels come from the previous session's high, low and close — but there is a timeframe (daily levels for day trading, weekly or monthly for swing work) and a formula variant. Classic spaces the supports and resistances by the prior range; Fibonacci uses 38.2/61.8/100% of it; Camarilla clusters them much closer to the close.
- P — the central pivot: the previous session's high, low and close averaged
- R1, R2, R3 — resistance levels above it; S1, S2, S3 — supports below
- Daily — for day trading; weekly or monthly — for swing and position work
- Classic spaces levels by the prior range; Fibonacci uses 38.2/61.8/100% of it; Camarilla clusters them tightly around the close; Woodie weights the close more heavily
How it is used
Used as a ready-made map of intraday levels: the central pivot as the session's fulcrum, the R and S levels as the places to expect reactions, take profit, or place stops just beyond.
- Price above the central pivot → the session is leaning bullish; below → bearish
- R1 and S1 → where the first reaction is expected, and where partial profits often go
- An open beyond R2 or S2 → a gap that has left the map stale
- Levels holding repeatedly → confirmation the day is range-bound
How it relates to everything else
Pivots are a pre-computed map rather than a signal, so they are almost always combined with something that supplies direction — VWAP for intraday control, or a moving average for trend. Where a pivot level coincides with VWAP or a volume-profile point of control, traders treat that confluence as a stronger level than either alone.
- Pivot + VWAP agreeing → a level two different methods both point at
- Pivot + volume profile point of control → confluence day traders watch closely
- Everyone plots the same numbers, which is both why they work and why they get gamed
What to watch for
The levels work partly because so many desks plot the identical numbers, which also means they are widely gamed. They say nothing about direction, and a gap that opens beyond the outer levels leaves the whole map stale.