Would someone explain the basis behind pivots, how they are determined and what the basis is behind the support or resistance at that level? Thanks!
This has been addressed on several occasions, and in fact, most recently. Please try using a SEARCH function to obtain some info on this area. In the meantime, the PIVOT is calculated as: High+Low+Close / 3 = PIVOT All trading above the pivot is deemed bullish. All trading below the pivot is deemed bearish. The S1, S2, and R1, R2, numbers give a trader some parameters do shoot for in so far as giving one an idea what to look for at resistance (R) and support (S) levels.
here is the recent discussion on pivots. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21377&highlight=started+using+pivots
By the way, REALTICK CHARTING offers Pivots and the R1's, R2's and S1's, S2's in their charting tools for futures AND stocks.
Thanks for answering and honestly as many times as I have seen other same questions asked, I never thought of the search function. I spaced it.
everyone here will tell you their history, their exact calculation method, argue over minor differences in calculation methods, tell you the way they SUPPOSEDLY work and supposed to be used.............. BUT noone here who's using them successfully will tell you the actual strategy he's using in trading them. That's the harsh reality buddy.
No, but there are people who are more than willing to help those who will at least begin to do their own work. If you think that adopting somebody else's strategy will do it for you, you haven't learned anything.
Due to the trading nature of the ES, when determining the inputs for low, high, close, do you look at a 24 hour time frame or the regular trading hours?
This has been discussed to death on this board FYI! Use 9:30 - 4:15 session ET Either electronic or Pit traded.
As has been mentioned, yes, we have been going back and forth on this issue for a month or so, starting with Funky's very good posts about pivot trading. This week I wanted to see what the difference would be from the two sets of numbers so I put up two charts, one with each set on my screen. The first thing to remember is the closing number will be the same no matter which set you use. Here's how they stacked up this week: Monday same pivots. Tuesday different. Wednesday same pivots. Thursday different. Friday very slightly different. {all times pacific} On Tuesday, it looks like traders used the 630a to115p pivot for the 7am reverse and used the 730 and 830 reverses with the 24 hour numbers. Thursday it looks like very little difference between where price hits on both pivot charts except the 10a pivot was right on for the 24 hour chart pivots. Friday they were very close. So, it looks to me like traders who may try to over-think these numbers and set only the day schedule make up some of the traders and the rest are those traders who either don't know any different or who don't care. So you've got what appears to be big and small traders using both sets of pivots. At least that's what I see. Bottom line for me is, pivots are not absolute anyway, but they are, as dbPhoenix once said, kind of like taking a stick and poking the traders at that price to see if there is liquidity or interest in trading that price. My observation is you can use either set of numbers and be fine, because the rest of the trading universe seems to be doing the same thing. If the overnight session was very unusual, then the pivots will be different, otherwise, both sets are very close to each other. jd