Floor Pivots and the Daily Box: Where the Ladders Agree

Many charting tools draw a set of lines called pivot points at the start of each day. They are old, simple and widely watched. If you use them, you will soon notice that they look a little like the daily box: a middle line, an upper line, a lower line. Are they the same thing? Not quite. This lesson builds both from one day’s candle, shows the exact link between them, and then reads both on real boxes. It teaches a way to read a chart. It does not tell you what to do in any market.

What you will be able to do

• Work out the classic floor pivot P, floor R1 and floor S1 from a day’s high, low and close.
• Say how they relate to the daily box’s C, R1 and S1, with one short formula.
• Name where the two ladders agree and where they do not.
• Read one price against both, and state which one carries the vote.

Two ladders from one day

Take one finished day. It has a high, a low and a close (the last price of the day).

The daily box uses two of them. Chapter 8 defines R1 as the high and S1 as the low. C is halfway between: C = (R1 + S1) ÷ 2, as Chapter 9 sets out. Every other level is S1 + (R1 − S1) × a percentage. The close is not used.