Pivot points
Pivot points are support and resistance levels computed from the previous session's high, low and close — the classic floor-trader formula giving a central pivot with two resistance levels above and two supports below.
The classic floor-trader construction starts from the previous session's typical price: the pivot is the average of yesterday's high, low and close. The other four levels are projected from it — R1 and R2 as resistance above, S1 and S2 as support below, each derived from the pivot and yesterday's range. All five are fixed the moment yesterday's session ends and hold for the whole of today.
Their value is self-fulfilling rather than predictive. Every desk running the same formula sees the same five prices, which is precisely what makes them levels: enough participants act around R1 that R1 behaves like resistance. On daily bars the useful events are the crosses — `close crosses above pivot_r1` on strong volume is the Crossing above pivot R1 scan, a decisive break of a level the room was watching. Trading above the pivot is the day's simplest strength read; below it, weakness.
The caveats are structural. Pivots are pure arithmetic on three of yesterday's prices — they know nothing about volume, trend, or where real orders sit, and a large overnight gap can open price beyond R2 or S2 and leave the whole ladder irrelevant for the day. Several variant formulas exist (Woodie, Camarilla, Fibonacci); these fields are the classic version. And since a level everyone watches gets tested constantly, the touch means little — the close through it, with volume, is the event worth scanning for.
In Sift
Written as pivot, pivot_r1, pivot_r2, pivot_s1, pivot_s2 — prices, from the previous session. A working scan — A decisive close through the first resistance, with volume behind it:
where close crosses above pivot_r1 and rel_volume > 1.51
of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 20 Aug 2026
Scans that use it
Prebuilt scans in the library whose query reads this value — each with a hit-rate replay over the last 250 sessions.
Common questions
How are pivot points calculated?
The classic floor-trader formula: the pivot is the average of the previous session's high, low and close. R1 and S1 reflect the pivot against yesterday's close range, and R2 and S2 extend by yesterday's full range. All five levels are fixed from the prior session and stay constant through the current one.
Do pivot points actually work?
They work the way a focal point works: because many participants compute the identical levels, orders cluster around them and price reacts there more often than at arbitrary prices. That is self-fulfilling, not predictive — and it is also why a decisive close through a pivot level on volume tends to carry, which is what the scans here look for.
Which pivot points does PatternsRadar use?
The classic (floor-trader) formula, computed from the previous daily session. Variants like Camarilla, Woodie and Fibonacci pivots use different arithmetic on the same three inputs and produce different levels; those are not what these fields contain. On daily bars the levels update once per session, after the close.