Pivot points explained, and how to write them as a condition
Pivot points are the simplest levels there are: arithmetic on the previous session's high, low and close, giving a central pivot with support and resistance levels either side. They are known in advance, they do not move during the day, and a great many people watch the same ones, which is most of the argument for them.
What they are
The pivot (P) is the average of the previous session's high, low and close. The first resistance, R1, is twice the pivot minus the previous low; the first support, S1, is twice the pivot minus the previous high. R2 and S2 add and subtract the previous session's whole range from the pivot, and R3 and S3 go one range further. That is the standard ("floor trader") method and the one the app uses.
Because every input is from the session that has already ended, the levels are fixed for the whole of the current one. They are recalculated once per session, not per bar, and the session follows the instrument's trading day rather than the clock — so on forex the day rolls at the New York close, and on crypto at midnight UTC.
The settings
- Level. Which line the condition reads: P, S1, S2, S3, R1, R2 or R3. One level per condition; a strategy that cares about two uses two conditions.
- Touch tolerance. How close a close has to be to count as touching the level, as a percentage of price — 0.1% by default. Only the touch condition uses it.
Writing them as a condition
These are the comparisons SixOne8 offers, in the builder's own words. Price is always the subject.
- Price above / price below. The bar closed on that side of the level. A state.
- Price crosses above / crosses below. True only on the bar the close moves through the level. The moment, and the usual trigger.
- Price touches. The bar closed within the tolerance of the level, from either side. True on any bar that closes that close to it.
Pivot Points(S1) on 15m · price touches
Read it as a sentence: on the 15-minute chart, the close is within a tenth of a percent of today's first support level. That is what the scanner evaluates at each 15-minute close.
What a level is evidence of
Nothing, on its own. A pivot is a number derived from yesterday; the claim that price reacts to it rests entirely on enough people watching it, and that varies by market and by session. The useful thing about a fixed level is that it makes a precise, testable condition — "price touched S1 and closed back above it" is a moment the entry check can measure across years of history — where a hand-drawn line is whatever the person drawing it wanted to see. Treat the levels as a grid to ask questions on, and let the test answer them.
Before you trust them
Run an entry check. It will tell you whether, on the market you care about, the moments this condition fired moved any differently from a random moment over the history tested. That is a fact about the past on that market, and it is the only kind of fact a test here produces.