Quote from Pabst:
Just to recap: Today's pivots in ES were R2 1306.42
R1 1304.33
PP 1301.42
S1 1299.33
S2 1296.42
There was a PP generated level every other point. NOT ONE OF THEM WAS MEANINGFUL!
Conversely Tom DeMark's formula produced but three PP's R1 1302.88, PP 1300.69 , S1 1297.88. Each was vaguely ok. I've examined pivots in Treasuries for twenty years and in Index futures for a handful. I see ZERO added value amidst much randomness.
Okay, I have heard this a couple times and it bears talkiing about
First of all, in my opinion Pivots are (among other things) a mechanism that provide psychological comfort to the trader. They accomplish that by providing a context, a framework within which to operate.
Second, Pivots are used by a lot of traders on and off the floor. I used to signal levels into the pits, so I know that they WERE in use and I would bet things haven't changed greatly. This means that a lot of folks are looking at the same (or similar) numbers during the day
Third, I don't use them like "on & off" switches. I would never suggest specific buys or sells, but instead I watch how price acts "around" pivot levels. In other words, I wait to see if price will respect a pivot or not.
Fourth, I have my own adaptation on the concept that works very well WITH pivots. Even so, I still wait to see how price acts in the vicinity of a pivot, and I base my decision on more than just that data. I am pretty sure you do too.
NOW, I can talk more about some of those concepts, and some I am not willing to talk about much cause it cost me a lot of time to discover how they work. If you want to develop some of this, let me know....
Steve