PIV (Pivot Points)¶
What it shows: fixed price levels for today (or this week), worked out from the previous day's (or week's) high, low and close. P is the pivot. R1, R2, R3 are resistance levels above it and S1, S2, S3 support levels below it, each further from P.
How people use it: price crossing above R1 is read as a breakout upward; crossing below S1 downward. Price above P suggests buyers are in control for the day. Range traders instead sell near R levels and buy near S levels.
Pairs well with: Volume (a breakout on high volume is more convincing) and RSI for range trades near the levels.
Settings¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Traditional | How R1 to R3 and S1 to S3 are placed around P. Traditional is the classic floor method. Fibonacci spaces them at 38.2%, 61.8% and 100% of the previous range. Camarilla puts them close to the previous close, so they are reached and crossed much more often (more trades, smaller moves). |
| Period | Daily (UTC) | Which finished period the levels come from. Daily (UTC): the previous UTC day; the levels change at 00:00 UTC. Weekly (UTC): the previous week (Monday 00:00 UTC to Monday 00:00 UTC); the levels are wider apart and stay fixed all week, so breakouts are rarer. |
You set the defaults on the Indicators page. A condition can use its own settings, which override the defaults for that condition only.
Ready-made conditions¶
| For | Condition | Fires when |
|---|---|---|
| Buy | Price crosses above R1 (daily pivot) | the one candle price moves from below the R1 line to above it |
| Buy | Price above the daily pivot P | every candle price is above the Pivot (P) line |
| Buy | Price crosses above the daily pivot P | the one candle price moves from below the Pivot (P) line to above it |
| Sell | Price crosses below S1 (daily pivot) | the one candle price moves from above the S1 line to below it |
| Sell | Price below the daily pivot P | every candle price is below the Pivot (P) line |
| Sell | Price crosses below the daily pivot P | the one candle price moves from above the Pivot (P) line to below it |
"Above", "below", "is" and "rising" / "falling" stay true on every candle the state lasts, so they can fire many candles in a row. "Crosses" and "flips" fire once, on the candle it happens, so you get one signal per move.
Warnings you may see¶
- "It can never be true: a cross happens on one candle, so it cannot happen on N candles in a row. Use 'within the last N candles' instead.": a "crosses" condition with a "… in a row" lookback of 2 or more. Switch the lookback to Within the last.
- "Method must be one of Traditional, Fibonacci, Camarilla": shown in the condition editor; pick one of the listed choices.
- "Period must be one of Daily (UTC), Weekly (UTC)": shown in the condition editor; pick one of the listed choices.
Where they show: on the Strategies page, open Create entry conditions / Edit entry conditions (or the exit ones). Each condition's messages appear right under it. The setting messages ("must be between", "whole number", "must be one of", "must be smaller than") start with the indicator's short name, for example "MACD: Fast must be between 1 and 1000", and keep the conditions from being saved until fixed. The other warnings never block saving and are repeated in the strategy's Entry or Exit section, starting with the condition's name.
Good to know¶
- It is worked out from the previous UTC day's (or week's) high, low and close, plus candle times (not volume).
- Use it on intraday candles (1m to 4h). The levels never use the current day or week: they stay fixed until the next 00:00 UTC (or Monday 00:00 UTC).
- It needs some history before its value settles: two whole periods of candles: 2 UTC days for Daily (48 candles on 1h), 14 days for Weekly (336 on 1h), so the previous period is complete from its start. Apathia loads that history for you.
- Every candle of a day (or week) reads the period before it, so the levels stay fixed until the boundary (00:00 UTC, or Monday 00:00 UTC for Weekly) and never use the current period.
- A period only counts if Apathia has its candles from its start. On the very first day of history the levels are unavailable.
- The ready-made condition names follow Period: "daily pivot" with Daily (UTC), "weekly pivot" with Weekly (UTC) (for example "Price crosses above R1 (weekly pivot)").
- A daily pivot needs a finished day before the current candle, so on candles longer than a day its levels are never there; the strategy shows a warning. (Every main timeframe offered today is at most 1 day.)
- R2 / S2 and R3 / S3 are available as lines in your own conditions; the ready-made ones use R1, S1 and P. A higher level needs a bigger move, so it trades less often.