Trader Toolkit · Calculator

Pivot Points

Seven levels worked from one finished bar: its high, its low and its close.

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High and low and close, combined:seven lines, and none divined.

One finished bar

Result

High (H)

The highest price of the previous period.

Low (L)

The lowest price of the previous period.

Close (C)

The last price of the previous period.

Formulas

P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3

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Pivot (Classic)

1.1000

P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3

Range of the bar (H − L)

0.0100

1.1050 − 1.0950

A drawing of your own figures: the bar you entered at the left, and each level as a line across. Point at a line to read its price. It shows where the levels fall, not where the price will go.

With the Classic formulas the pivot is 1.1000. Resistance levels, from the highest: 1.1150, 1.1100, 1.1050. Support levels, from the nearest: 1.0950, 1.0900, 1.0850. The bar at the left is the one you entered.

The Classic levels, with their formulas

The floor traders’ version: the pivot is the plain average of the high, the low and the close, and each further level steps away from it by amounts taken from the same bar.

Pivot levels from the highest resistance to the lowest support, each with its formula and its price
Level	Formula	Price
R3	H + 2(P − L)	1.1150
R2	P + (H − L)	1.1100
R1	2P − L	1.1050
P	(H + L + C) ÷ 3	1.1000
S1	2P − H	1.0950
S2	P − (H − L)	1.0900
S3	L − 2(H − P)	1.0850

R is a resistance level, above the pivot; S is a support level, below it; P is the pivot. H, L and C are the high, low and close you entered.

SimulationA calculation on the figures you entered. Pivot levels are arithmetic on one past bar: a convention many traders watch, not a forecast. Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade.

How it works

Formula

P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3; R1 = 2P − L; S1 = 2P − H; R2 = P + (H − L); S2 = P − (H − L); R3 = H + 2(P − L); S3 = L − 2(H − P)

With your numbers

1P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3(1.1050 + 1.0950 + 1.1000) ÷ 3 = 1.1000
2R1 = 2P − L2 × 1.1000 − 1.0950 = 1.1050
3S1 = 2P − H2 × 1.1000 − 1.1050 = 1.0950
4R2 = P + (H − L)1.1000 + (1.1050 − 1.0950) = 1.1100
5S2 = P − (H − L)1.1000 − (1.1050 − 1.0950) = 1.0900
6R3 = H + 2(P − L)1.1050 + 2 × (1.1000 − 1.0950) = 1.1150
7S3 = L − 2(H − P)1.0950 − 2 × (1.1050 − 1.1000) = 1.0850

Assumptions

Pivot levels are arithmetic on one past bar. They are a convention many traders watch, not a forecast: nothing in the calculation knows what the price will do next.
The bar is yours to choose. Daily pivots use the previous day’s high, low and close; a platform’s day begins and ends on its server’s clock, so two platforms can give different levels for the same market.
The formula panel above shows the classic set. The other three are written out, with your numbers in them, when you choose them.
The starting figures are an example, not a market’s price. Replace them with the bar you are looking at.

Terms used

In plain language

Seven lines from three numbers, and no opinion in any of them.

A pivot point is an average of one finished bar: its high, its low and its close, added together and divided by three. The support and resistance levels are that average pushed up and down by amounts taken from the same bar. Nothing else goes in. Two people who start from the same bar get the same seven lines.

The method comes from exchange floors, where the levels for the day could be worked out by hand before the opening. The variants change the recipe a little. The Fibonacci version spaces the levels at 38.2%, 61.8% and 100% of the bar’s range; Woodie’s counts the close twice; Camarilla measures from the close and keeps the levels close to it.

Pivot levels are arithmetic on one past bar: a convention many traders watch, not a forecast. If a price pauses near one, part of the reason may simply be that many people have the same line on their screens. The calculation itself knows nothing about what happens next.

The choice of bar matters more than the choice of formula. A day’s high, low and close depend on when the platform’s day begins and ends, so the same market can show different daily pivots on two platforms.

Continue

Fetching the page

Level

Formula

Price

H + 2(P − L)

1.1150

P + (H − L)

1.1100

2P − L

1.1050

(H + L + C) ÷ 3

1.1000

2P − H

1.0950

P − (H − L)

1.0900

L − 2(H − P)

1.0850

How it works

Formula

P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3; R1 = 2P − L; S1 = 2P − H; R2 = P + (H − L); S2 = P − (H − L); R3 = H + 2(P − L); S3 = L − 2(H − P)

With your numbers

1P = (H + L + C) ÷ 3(1.1050 + 1.0950 + 1.1000) ÷ 3 = 1.1000

2R1 = 2P − L2 × 1.1000 − 1.0950 = 1.1050

3S1 = 2P − H2 × 1.1000 − 1.1050 = 1.0950

4R2 = P + (H − L)1.1000 + (1.1050 − 1.0950) = 1.1100

5S2 = P − (H − L)1.1000 − (1.1050 − 1.0950) = 1.0900

6R3 = H + 2(P − L)1.1050 + 2 × (1.1000 − 1.0950) = 1.1150

7S3 = L − 2(H − P)1.0950 − 2 × (1.1050 − 1.1000) = 1.0850

Assumptions

Pivot levels are arithmetic on one past bar. They are a convention many traders watch, not a forecast: nothing in the calculation knows what the price will do next.

The bar is yours to choose. Daily pivots use the previous day’s high, low and close; a platform’s day begins and ends on its server’s clock, so two platforms can give different levels for the same market.

The formula panel above shows the classic set. The other three are written out, with your numbers in them, when you choose them.

The starting figures are an example, not a market’s price. Replace them with the bar you are looking at.

Terms used