Home                           

 Try Investor/RT             

 Investor/RT Tour           

 Getting Started              

 What's New                  

 Testimonials                 



MASTER INDEX
  SEARCH
  CHARTS
  MAIN TOOLBAR
  SETTING PREFERENCES
  TECHNICAL INDICATORS
 
WHAT'S NEW
  ALARMS
  BACKTESTING

  CONFIRMING TRADES
  CUSTOM COLUMNS
  CUSTOM INDICATORS
  CUSTOM INSTRUMENTS
  CUSTOM PRICES
  DATA FEEDS
  DATABASE
  DOWNLOADING DATA
  FEED STATUS
  HEARTBEAT
  HELP
  MULTI-LINKING
  MULTI-PERIODICITY
 
INSTRUMENT SETUP
 
NASDAQ LEVEL II
 
NEWS TICKER
 
NEWS BROWSER
  OPTIMIZATION
  OPTIONS ANALYTICS

  PLACING TRADES
  PORTFOLIOS
  PRESETS
 
PRINTING
  QUICK QUOTES
  QUOTE PAGES
  REALIZATION
  RTL LANGUAGE
  SCANS
  SCHEDULES

  SCOPE
  SYSTEM STATUS
  TICKER TAPE
  TIME AND SALES

 
TRADING NOTES
  USER VARIABLES
  VERTICAL SCALE
MASTER INDEX
DICTIONARY
FEEDBACK

Investor/RT Tour ( more on Technical Indicators )
Pivot Point
Video Demo of Pivot Point Indicator
Video Demo of Weekly Pivots Using Day Session Data Only
The Formula . . . 

. . .more on Formulas 

PP = (High + Low + CL.1) / 3 ; other options available - see preferences
1st Res = 2*PP - Low
  ; where Low is based on preference selection
2nd Res = PP + (High - Low) ; where High is based on preference selection
3rd Res = 2*PP + (High - 2*Low)
1st Sup = 2*PP - High
2nd Sup = PP - (High - Low)
3rd Sup = 2*PP - (2*High - Low)
S 0.5 = (PP + 1st Sup) / 2     R 0.5 = (PP + 1st Res) / 2
S 1.5 = (1st + 2nd Sup) / 2     R 1.5 = (1st + 2nd Res) / 2
S 2.5 = (2nd + 3rd Sup) / 2     R 2.5 = (2nd + 3rd Res) / 2
 
 
The Presentation . . . 

. . . more on Charts 

Pivot Point Chart

Above is a 5-Minute Chart of an Intel Corporation (INTC) .  The five colored reference lines represent the pivot point, 1st and 2nd support, and 1st and 2nd resistance levels.

 
The Preferences . . . 

. . . more on Preferences 

  • Pivot Point = - The user may choose from several different options for calculating the Pivot Point, each including a high and low component.  Some examples include:  (High + Low)/2 , (High + Low + CL.1)/3,  (High + Low + CL.1 + OP.1)/4, (High + Low + CL.1 + OP)/4, (High + Low + CL + OP)/4, (High + Low + CL)/3, (High + Low + OP)/3, (High + Low + 2*OP)/4 or (High + Low + SETTLE)/3

  • High - This selection for the High expression will be used in the calculation of the Pivot Point value as well as the Support and Resistance Values.  Options include: HI.1, HI, MAX(HI, HI.1), MAX(HI, HI.1, HI.2), MAX(HI.1, HI.2), or any custom V# variable.

  • Low - This selection for the Low expression will be used in the calculation of the Pivot Point value as well as the Support and Resistance Values.  Options include: LO.1, LO, MIN(LO, LO.1), MIN(LO, LO.1, LO.2), MIN(LO.1, LO.2), or any custom V# variable.

  • Alt S3 Calc - When checked, the S3 is calculated as PP - 2 * (HI - LO) instead of the traditional HI + 2 * (PP - LO). Similarly, R3 will be calculated as PP + 2 * (HI - LO) instead of the traditional LO - 2 * (HI - PP).

  • Store In V# - This option allows the user to store the pivot levels automatically into a series of V# variables.  This method can be handy for transferring pivot levels to Market Profile charts (see video).

  • Pivot Point - Specify whether or not to draw Pivot Point line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 1st (Resistance) - Specify whether or not to draw 1st Resistance line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 2nd (Resistance) - Specify whether or not to draw 2nd Resistance line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 3rd ( Resistance) - Specify whether or not to draw 3rd Resistance line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 1st (Support) - Specify whether or not to draw 1st Support line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 2nd (Support) - Specify whether or not to draw 2nd Support line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • 3rd ( Support) - Specify whether or not to draw 3rd Support line, as well as the color of the line in the chart.

  • Pivot Point - The user may choose from three different options for calculating the Pivot Point:  (HI + LO)/2 , (HI + LO + CL)/3, or (OP + HI + LO + CL)/4 

  • Draw current lines - Check here to draw horizontal reference lines at current support and resistance levels.

  • Draw historical graphs - Check here to draw historical lines for support and resistance.

  • Use Daily/Weekly/Monthly - This option allows you to use Daily, Weekly, Or Monthly Data when computing the pivot point levels for an intraday chart.

  • Beginning X Days Back - This gives the user the ability to study the daily pivot point levels historically on an intraday chart.  Specifying 1 day back will result in the levels for yesterday.  If your equations do not reference current days data, then you can also specify a -1 in this box to look at tomorrows levels.  This value can be adjusted by selecting the pivot study in the chart, and using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to move it one day (week/month) right or left.

  • One Color - This option allows the user to specify only one color for all lines in the study.  When the checkbox is checked, all color controls except one will be hidden.

  • R0.5, R1.5, R2.5, S0.5, S1.5, S2.5 - These options allow you to draw support at resistance levels at the midpoints of the major support and resistance lines.

 
The Description . . .
The Pivot Point study is one which works best in markets with a wide daily trading range (high volatility). The study uses the previous day high, low, close, and open price to generate a pivot, two support levels, and two resistance levels. Because it is generated from daily data it is recommended that you check the "Use Daily" checkbox when adding this study to an intraday chart.  Otherwise, the pivot point lines will be calculated using bars of whatever periodicity the chart is in.

Price crossing the pivot on an up move is a bullish event; a cross below the pivot on a down move is a bearish event. Once a bullish indication has registered the study offers two resistance levels for the price to test. If the first resistance is penetrated price can be expected to test the second resistance. The same idea holds true for the support levels on a downward cross of the pivot point.

Choosing a Pivot Point
The user now has a great deal of flexibility available in selecting what data will be used in calculating the pivot point and the support and resistance levels.  Some of the pivot point options include:

(High + Low)/2
(High + Low + CL.1)/3
(High + Low + CL.1 + OP.1)/4
(High + Low + CL.1 + OP)/4
(High + Low + CL + OP)/4
(High + Low + CL)/3
(High + Low + OP)/3
(High + Low + 2*OP)/4

The expression CL.1 represents the closing price of the previous day, while the expression OP represents the opening price of the current day or session.  Notice that each expression has two common components, High and Low.  The values used for the High and Low will in turn be based upon what is selected from the list box in the preferences.  Some choices available for High include:

HI.1
HI
MAX(HI, HI.1)
MAX(HI, HI.1, HI.1)
V#1
V#2
V#3
. . .

Whatever expression is selected here will be substituted for "High" in the equation for Pivot Point, as well as the equations for support and resistance levels  Similar, whatever expression is chosen in the "Low" listbox will be substituted for "Low" in all equations.

As an example, assume the user chose the following options:

Pivot Point:  (High + Low + CL.1) / 3
High:  HI.1
Low:  MIN(LO, LO.1)

Then the resulting equations for Pivot Point and 1st Support and Resistance would be:

Pivot Point:  (HI.1 + MIN(LO, LO.1) + CL.1) / 3
1st Support:  2*PP - HI.1
1st Resistance:  2*PP - MIN(LO, LO.1)

A new options has been added to the Pivot Point study to allow for the viewing of historical daily pivot levels on intraday charts. When the "Use Daily" options is selected, you can then specify how many bars back you would like to base the calculation of your pivot levels. For instance, if you chose 1 bar back, you would see yesterday's pivot levels. Conversely, if you specify -1, you would see tomorrows pivot levels. You will only be able to view tomorrows pivot levels if you pivot level calculations do not rely on the current days data (only previous days data). This historical option also works with weekly and monthly options.

The following custom indicators can be used to represent the 4th and 5th support and resistance levels.

S4:
(HI.1 + LO.1 + CL.1)/3 – (2 * HI.1 – 2 * LO.1)

S5:
2 * (HI.1 + LO.1 + CL.1)/3 – (3 * HI.1 – 2 * LO.1)

R4:
(HI.1 + LO.1 + CL.1)/3 + (2 * HI.1 – 2 * LO.1)

R5:
2 * (HI.1 + LO.1 + CL.1)/3 + (2 * HI.1 – 3 * LO.1)

Once these custom indicators are created, they should be added to intraday charts using the MPD (Mixed Periodicity Data) indicator (one for each custom indicator).  Setup MPD with "Mix Periodicity: Daily", "Data Source: Indicator: CI: Custom Indicator" (and choose one of the custom indicators you've created), and "Stretch" should be checked.

These 4 support and resistance levels have more concise formulas if you use the MID and HLR tokens. MID.x is equivalent to (HI.x + LO.x + CL.x)/3. The HLR (High Low Range) token HLR.x is equivalent to (HI.x - LO.x). Thus we have:

S4:
MID.1 - (2 * HLR.1);

S5:
MID.1 - (2 * HLR.1) - HI.1;

R4:
MID.1 + (2 * HLR.1);

R5:
(2 * MID.1) + (2 * HLR.1) - LO.1