Enjoying your posts, especially how you're sharing detailed charts with regular updates, and especially your trades, but I do wonder about your reliance on pivot points. I looked into them a while back and have removed all but the main PP.
I analyzed by simply looking at the chart and seeing how often an S1 or R1, etc., provided a tradeable turn. Here is a quick chart I put together with some notes of just the past few days. What I saw in general was that they weren't really that helpful. If the pivot point lined up with something like an overnight high or low, or perhaps a round number like 9300 or 9350, then I would put that as the reason for the turn on that level, and not so much the pivot point. Of course if you're having luck with them then that's awesome, but I just figured I would chime in here.
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The other thing I wanted to mention though was the calculations of these levels. I added the price scale of my chart beside one of yours and the values are off by about 3 or 4 points for most of the different levels (ie. S1 of 9166 for you vs. 9162 for me, or R1 of 9462 vs. 9458)
Now of course this is a calculation, so I'm not surprised its a bit different, but this is one reason why I don't like pivot points so much since I'm not really sure who is right and what people are basing their decisions on.
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Lastly, when I compare your RTH chart with the 24hr chart, its amazing how far off the values are. Clearly the platform is doing calculations but with different data. In this pic below, I put your RTH chart on the right with your 24hr chart on the left. For both the left and right, it starts about 9460 at the top which is where NQ opened, but look at how different the values are, like PP of 9267 vs 9314. The RTH chart is the one of course that has it wrong, but its still interesting to notice. For reference, my PP value today was 9265, and you have 9267 for the 24hr chart, so that is not too far off.
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thanks for stopping by and for your comments!
pivots; they're not the holy grail to be sure. just landmarks and road-signs that others in the market might be observing or following. JMI not fact to base it on.
as for the differences in plotting. yes, the RTH(regular trading hours) vs. ETH(extended trading hours) will be different because the calculation is based on respective high-low-close of previous session. they almost always open and close at different times and price, so....
as for the difference between your PP vs mine (wait a minute, i don't think we know each other well enough...)
i know that on NT there are 3 options for calculation. 1) intraday data 2) daily bars 3) user defined.
i have mine set to the default of intraday and find that it matches my TOS platform levels exactly.
not saying TOS is right either but i do know there are a heck of a lot of users of the Thinkorswim platform and so I just go with that. every now and then there will be a network hiccup and the data for TOS will be off until next day but i can count the number of times that i've observed that happening on one hand.
back to the pivots, or any other indicator for that matter. i have nothing to base my use of them on other than i'm pretty sure (not certain) of ones that are very common and widely used.
my whole reason for using any of them is to in some way give me an edge or clue as to what other traders are watching and possibly basing their trading decisions on. moving averages and floor pivots are pretty much universal in the math that goes into them and daily hi/lo levels are what they are.
round numbers are round numbers. not a science but just like shoppers gravitating to the shortest check-out line, market participants, who or whatever they are seem to pay attention to them too.
i know there are a lot of traders that also use market profile and i will sometimes look at that as well but my application of it is not too unlike the way i use floor pivots.
as i posted previously and quoting a conversation i had with my cousin on some deep subjects, he said, "there's your way and there's my way, not just THEE way...".
so i try not to get too wrapped around the axle about such things.
my wife and i have some family friends that have a big wrought-iron sign hanging in their kitchen that reads, "Simplify".
often easier said than done but if a guy can do it he might stand a chance!
sometimes i have to step back and strip everything down and start over.
in fact that is part of my daily practice with my charts is to remove all my drawings, trend lines, etc. and start anew the next time i sit down at the trading desk.
if forces me to reset and double check my perspective.
ok, enough of my rambling.
time for a drink!
cheers!
