OPEN-SOURCE SCRIPT

Camarilla Pivot Plays (Lite) [BruzX]

1 709
█ OVERVIEW

This indicator implements the Camarilla Pivot Points levels and a system for suggesting particular plays. It only 3rd, 4th, and 6th levels, as these are the only ones used by the system. It also optionally shows the Central Pivot Range, which is in fact between S2 and R2. In total, there are 12 possible plays, grouped into two groups of six. The algorithm evaluates in real-time which plays fulfil their precondition and shows the candidate plays. The user must then decide if and when to take the play.

█ CREDITS

The Camarilla pivot plays are defined in a strategy developed by Thor Young, and the whole system is explained in his book "A Complete Day Trading System". This description is self-sufficient for effective use.

█ FEATURES
  • Display the 3rd, 4th and 6th Camarilla pivot levels
  • Works for stocks, futures, indices, forex and crypto
  • Automatically switches between RTH and ETH data based on criteria defined by the system.
  • Option to force RTH/ETH data and force a close price to be used in the calculation.
  • Preconditions for the plays can be toggled on/off
  • Works correctly on both RTH and ETH charts
  • Well-documented options tooltips
  • Well-documented and high-quality open-source code for those who are interested

█ HOW TO USE

The defaults work well; at a minimum, just add the indicator and watch the plays being called. For US futures, you will probably want to chat the "Timezone for sessions" to New York and the regular session times to 09:30 - 16:00. The following diagram shows its key features.

snapshot

By default, the indicator draws plays 1 days back; this can be changed up to 20 days. The labels can be shifted left/right using the "label offset" option to avoid overlapping with other labels in this indicator or those of another indicator.

An information box at the top-right of the chart shows:
  • The data currently in use for the main pivots. This can switch in the pre-market if the H/L range exceeds the previous day's H/L, and if it does, you will see that switch at the time that it happens
  • Whether the current day's pivots are in a higher or lower range compared to the previous day's.
  • The width of the pivots compared to the previous day
  • The current candidate plays fulfilling preconditions. You then need to watch the price action to decide whether to take the play.

The resistance pivots are all drawn in the same colour (red by default), as are the support pivots (green by default). You can change the resistance and support colours, but it is not possible to have different colours for different levels of the same kind.

█ CONCEPTS

The indicator is focused around daily Camarilla pivots and evaluates the preconditions for 12 possible plays: 6 when in a higher range, 6 when in a lower range. The plays are labelled by two letters—the first indicates the range, the second indicates the play—as shown in this diagram:

snapshot

The pivots can be calculated using only RTH (Regular Trading Hours) data, or ETH (Extended Trading Hours) data, which includes the pre-market and post-market. The indicator implements logic to automatically choose the correct data, based on the rules defined by the strategy. This is user-overridable. With the default options, ETH will be used when the H/L range in the previous day's post-market or current day's pre-market exceeds that of the previous day's regular market. In auto mode, the chosen pivots are considered the main pivots for that day and are the ones used for play evaluation. The "other" pivots can also be shown—"other" here meaning using ETH data when the main pivots use RTH data, and vice versa.

The plays must fulfil a set of preconditions. There are preconditions for valid region and range, price sweeps into levels, correct pivot width, opening position, price action, and whether neutral range plays and premarket plays are enabled. When all the preconditions are fulfilled, the play will be shown as a candidate.

█ NOTE FOR FUTURES

Futures don't officially have a pre-market or post-market like equities. Let's take ES on CME as an example. It trades from 18:00 ET Sunday to 17:00 Friday (ET), with a daily pause between 17:00 and 18:00 ET. However, most of the trading activity is done between 09:30 and 16:00, which you can tell from the volume spikes at those times, and this coincides with NYSE/NASDAQ regular hours. So we define a pseudo-pre-market from 18:00 the previous day to 09:30 on the current day, then a pseudo-regular market from 08:30 to 16:00, then a pseudo-post-market from 16:00 to 17:00. The indicator then works exactly the same as with equities—all the options behave the same, just with different session times defined for the pre-, regular, and post-market, with "RTH" meaning just the regular market and "ETH" meaning all three.

█ LIMITATIONS

The pivots are very close to those shown in DAS Trader Pro. They are not to-the-cent exact, but within a few cents. The reasons are:
  1. TradingView provides free real-time data from CBOE One, not full exchange data (you can pay for this though, and it's not expensive), and
  2. the close/high/low are taken from the intraday timeframe you are currently viewing, not daily data—which are very close, but often not exactly the same. For example, the high on the daily timeframe may differ slightly from the daily high you'll see on an intraday timeframe.

Despite these caveats, occasionally large spikes will be seem in one platform and not the other (even with paid data), or the spikes will reach significantly difference prices. Where these spikes create the daily high or low, this can cause significantly different pivots levels. The more traded the stock is, the less the difference tends to be. Highly traded stocks are usually within a few cents (but even they occasionally have large differences in spikes). There is nothing that can be done about this.

The 6th Camarilla level does not have a standard definition and may not match the level shown on other platforms. It does match the definition used by DAS Trader Pro.

Replay mode for stocks does not work correctly. This is due to some important Pine Script variables provided by the TradingView platform and used by the script not being assigned correct values in replay mode. Futures do not use these variables, so they should work in replay mode.

The indicator is an intraday indicator (despite also being able to show weekly and monthly pivots on an intraday chart). It deactivates on a daily timeframe and higher. Sub-minute timeframes are also not supported.

The indicator was developed and tested for US/European stocks, US futures and EURUSD forex and BTCUSD. It should work as intended for stocks and futures in different countries, and for all forex and crypto, but this is tested as much as the security it was developed for.

█ DISCLAIMER

This indicator is provided for information only and should not be used in isolation without a good understand of the system and without considering other factors. You should not take trades using real money based solely on what this indicator says. Any trades you take are entirely at your own risk.

Disclaimer

The information and publications are not meant to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice or recommendations supplied or endorsed by TradingView. Read more in the Terms of Use.