We often hear some seasoned traders talking about an equity price nearing a certain support or resistance level. These levels are widely used to predict the market movement. How are these support and resistance levels derived? It is the use of pivot point. Although a full trading book may consist of many mathematics formulas and studies such as fibonacci arcs, gann fans, moving averages, and others, pivot point is still one of the commonly used strategies in the financial markets.
How to Apply Pivot Point Analysis
There are variations of pivot calculation. The most common used is the 5 point system that consists of Pivot Point, Support 1, Resistance 1, Support 2, Resistance 2. Some traders also go a step further to Support 3 and Resistance 3.
R2 = P + (H - L) = P + (R1 - S1)
R1 = (P x 2) - L
P = (H + L + C) / 3
S1 = (P x 2) - H
S2 = P - (H - L) = P - (R1 - S1)
S represent support, R represents resistance, P represents pivot point, H represents high, L represents low and C represents close.
Traditionally, stock traders use a 24-hour cycle of high, low and close. Because the extreme volatility in the forex market. Forex traders may use even shorter time intervals.