Pivot Point Calculations

I've noticed that some calculate the pivot points using the OHLC info for a 24-hour day, while the deltat1.com web site uses the OHLC data for only the trading day. This sometimes results in different pivot point calculations.

Do you feel that the calculations are more reliable using only the trading day data to calculate the pivots, vs. using the 24-hour data?

Also, can you explain the difference between the various formulas, and which might be the preferred? (Seems as though the Woodie Pivots correspond to what I get using an online pivot calculator.)

Scott

Thanks for posting your question here Scott.

On the DeltaT1 Daily Notes page and the Pivot Points page the ER2 (E-mini Russell 2000) and YM (Mini sized Dow Jones future) use all sessions data to calculate the pivots and the NQ (E-mini NASDAQ 100 future) and ES (E-mini S&P500 future) use RTH (Regular Trading Hours) data. This is because this appears to be the norm used by most of the market - i.e. a standard. Which works better - I'm not sure - however, I believe that these figures are used more than other figures. You can use a spreadsheet to do a high/low of day combined with proximity to the pivot to compare these two methods - I have not done that and so do not know that answer to this.

As far as formula go, this: Pivot Point Calcualtor has a number of standard types of formula that you can select from. The formula are show on the calculator so that you can see what is happening in there.

The pivot formula can also be found by following the links on the Pivot Points page.

Let me know if this answers your questions?

So you're saying the daytime data vs. the 24-hour data is more commonly used, and is therefore more reliable?

You didn't really answer my second question. What's the difference between the different types of pivots--Classic, Woodie, Camarilla, Tom DeMark? Are they similar? Are any more commonly used? Has one type been found to be more reliable than the others?

Thanks.

From talking to traders and reading references on who uses what type of data to calculate pivots I have concluded that for markets such as the ES (S&P500) and NQ (Nasdaq) that traders mostly use RTH and for the YM (Dow Jones future) and the ER2 (Russell 2000) traders use (for the most part) all sessions. I have not done a poll from a large number of traders so this is an unscientific conclusion and very much MY OPINION. If you are trading the ES, then my opinion is that more people are using the 09:30 to 16:15 EST timeframe to calculate pivot values than any other timeframe.

Your second question (in 4 parts ):
What is the difference between Classic, Woodie, Camarilla and Demark?
The obvious answer is the formula used. I believe that there is some overlap of the pivot value with some of them and perhaps some other levels.

Are they similar?
For the most part. They use the previous day's extremes and closing/opening prices to create support and resistance levels based on ranges and multiples of the range. The mechanics for calculating each is very similar.

Are any more commonly used?
In my opinion, the Classic is probably the most commonly used but that is just a feeling. I have not polled a large number of traders to try and discover this. I am not sure if anybody has ever done this.
(Good question because a more commonly used formula could lead to a more successful strategy through volume of followers - I like your thinking.)

Has one type been found to be more reliable than the others?
I have only scientifically tested the Classic formula against the ES, ER2, NQ and YM here: Do Pivot Points Work?
I have not tested the other formula against the same data set so I cannot say which one works better. Moreover, the test was a probability based test and does not take into account money management in a strategy. You also need to define "more reliable." For example, using my strategy for testing against probabilities I only look at the high and low of the day. If one set of formula provide significant pullbacks from the S/R lines such that you can take profits at each level a high percentage of the time then those sorts of facts would be missed by the type of test that I did.

The definition of "worked" is a hotly debated subject with pivot points. An ES daytrader that uses 1 point stops may get stopped out at each resistance level during a trend day up while another trader may come away with a profit by using a 2 point stop. So for one trader the pivots completely failed and for the other they worked well. It had nothing to do with the pivots that day but with the money management that was applied.

hi
im try used for our market dubai market and sudia arabia market but not give me good option for the point up down
Classic, Woodie, Camarilla and Demark?

mostshark