Pivot Points: Floor Trader vs. Camarilla Comparison

This indicator overlays two methods for computing daily support and resistance levels: the classical Floor Trader pivot (the most widely quoted variant in forex and futures) and the Camarilla pivot formula, which uses tighter coefficients and produces levels closer to price. Traders use pivot comparison to observe where multiple calculation methods converge, signalling potential turning points, and where they diverge, highlighting ranges of disagreement. Neither method is predictive, but traders often cross-reference them as confluence filters in multi-timeframe setups.

//@version=6
indicator("Pivot Points: Floor Trader vs. Camarilla", overlay=true)

// Inputs
bool show_floor = input.bool(true, "Show Floor Trader Pivots")
bool show_camarilla = input.bool(true, "Show Camarilla Pivots")
color floor_pivot_color = input.color(color.blue, "Floor Pivot Color")
color floor_support_color = input.color(color.new(color.red, 50), "Floor Support Color")
color floor_resistance_color = input.color(color.new(color.green, 50), "Floor Resistance Color")
color camarilla_pivot_color = input.color(color.orange, "Camarilla Pivot Color")
color camarilla_support_color = input.color(color.new(color.maroon, 40), "Camarilla Support Color")
color camarilla_resistance_color = input.color(color.new(color.teal, 40), "Camarilla Resistance Color")

// Calculate previous day's OHLC
h = request.security(syminfo.tickerid, "D", high[1])
l = request.security(syminfo.tickerid, "D", low[1])
c = request.security(syminfo.tickerid, "D", close[1])

// Floor Trader Pivot Calculation
floor_pivot = (h + l + c) / 3
floor_r1 = (2 * floor_pivot) - l
floor_r2 = floor_pivot + (h - l)
floor_s1 = (2 * floor_pivot) - h
floor_s2 = floor_pivot - (h - l)

// Camarilla Pivot Calculation
camarilla_pivot = (h + l + c) / 3
range_hl = h - l
camarilla_r1 = c + 0.2750 * range_hl
camarilla_r2 = c + 0.5500 * range_hl
camarilla_r3 = c + 0.8275 * range_hl
camarilla_r4 = c + 1.1000 * range_hl
camarilla_s1 = c - 0.2750 * range_hl
camarilla_s2 = c - 0.5500 * range_hl
camarilla_s3 = c - 0.8275 * range_hl
camarilla_s4 = c - 1.1000 * range_hl

// Plot Floor Trader Pivots
if show_floor
    plot(floor_pivot, title="Floor Pivot", color=floor_pivot_color, linewidth=2, style=plot.style_dashed)
    plot(floor_r1, title="Floor R1", color=floor_resistance_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(floor_r2, title="Floor R2", color=floor_resistance_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)
    plot(floor_s1, title="Floor S1", color=floor_support_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(floor_s2, title="Floor S2", color=floor_support_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)

// Plot Camarilla Pivots
if show_camarilla
    plot(camarilla_pivot, title="Camarilla Pivot", color=camarilla_pivot_color, linewidth=2, style=plot.style_dashed)
    plot(camarilla_r1, title="Camarilla R1", color=camarilla_resistance_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(camarilla_r2, title="Camarilla R2", color=camarilla_resistance_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(camarilla_r3, title="Camarilla R3", color=camarilla_resistance_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)
    plot(camarilla_r4, title="Camarilla R4", color=camarilla_resistance_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)
    plot(camarilla_s1, title="Camarilla S1", color=camarilla_support_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(camarilla_s2, title="Camarilla S2", color=camarilla_support_color, linewidth=1)
    plot(camarilla_s3, title="Camarilla S3", color=camarilla_support_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)
    plot(camarilla_s4, title="Camarilla S4", color=camarilla_support_color, linewidth=1, style=plot.style_dotted)

How the code works

The indicator requests the previous trading day's open, high, low and close (using request.security() with offset [1](#ref-1) to ensure no lookahead). Floor Trader pivots are computed using the classic formula: pivot = (H + L + C) / 3, then resistance and support are derived by subtracting or adding the day's range (H − L) from the pivot, scaled by factors of 1 or 2. This method concentrates the pivot point at the arithmetic mean of the three prices.

Camarilla pivots share the same pivot base but deploy the day's range with fixed multipliers (0.275, 0.55, 0.8275, 1.1) to generate support and resistance levels. Because Camarilla uses fractional multiples of the range around the close rather than the pivot point itself, its levels tend to bunch closer to price and create a tighter band. The code plots both methods in distinct colors: dashed lines for pivot points, solid for first resistance/support, dotted for outer levels.

Inputs allow toggling each method on or off, and colors are fully customizable, so users can adapt the display to their chart's theme. The calculations refresh once per bar when price changes, using the previous close (C^[1] etc.) to avoid repaint.

Reading it on a chart

On an intraday chart (using daily pivots), the Floor Trader levels will typically be wider apart than Camarilla's. If both methods align at a particular level, for example, if Floor R1 is close to Camarilla R2, that convergence may draw additional attention from traders scanning multiple systems. Conversely, a gap between the two methods reveals where calculation approaches disagree: price movement between a Camarilla support and the Floor Trader support below it highlights a zone of "soft" support according to one system.

Traders in scalping or day-trading contexts often use the tighter Camarilla band for intraday target levels and the wider Floor Trader structure as a broader order-flow reference. Over multi-day holds, neither method outperforms the other in general; their utility depends on instrument volatility, session type, and the trader's own decision framework. Visual comparison helps identify whether price is oscillating within one pivot method's structure or breaking through both.

Limitations

Pivot points, whether Floor Trader or Camarilla, rest on the assumption that yesterday's range and close meaningfully predict today's turn points. This assumption breaks on gap openings, earnings announcements, or geopolitical shocks that radically shift overnight price. A major gap above all levels renders both methods instantly stale. Neither method incorporates volume, momentum, or time-of-day patterns, price can respect a pivot level by coincidence or rejection of it for reasons the formula never captures. Both methods are equally arbitrary: the Floor Trader's 2× multiplier and Camarilla's 0.275 coefficient are mathematical conventions, not derived from underlying market microstructure. Institutional order flow, dark-pool activity, and algorithmic rebounding often occur at levels wholly unrelated to these formulas. Survivorship bias in anecdotal trader reports, posting the times pivots worked, not the times they failed, exaggerates their reliability in practice. The indicator is purely mechanical and non-predictive; it shows where two different methods place levels today, nothing more.

Key definitions

Pivot Point: The arithmetic midpoint of the prior period's high, low and close, used as a reference level for intraday or short-term turning points. Formula: (H + L + C) / 3.

Support: A price level where demand is historically expected to be sufficient to arrest a decline or trigger a bounce, as estimated by a calculation method.

Resistance: A price level where supply is historically expected to be sufficient to arrest a rally or trigger a pullback, as estimated by a calculation method.

Floor Trader Pivots: A classical pivot system that derives support and resistance by subtracting or adding the day's range to the pivot point itself, producing levels symmetrically offset from the pivot.

Camarilla Pivots: A pivot method credited to Nick Stoyko (late 1980s) that scales the day's range by fixed fractional coefficients applied to the close, producing a tighter band of levels than Floor Trader.

Range: The difference between the period's high and low price, used as the basis for scaling support and resistance offsets.

Lookahead Bias: Using future data (e.g., today's close) to calculate a level that should predict today's movement; avoided here by using the previous period's OHLC.

References

• CME Group, "Pivot Points and Support/Resistance in Futures", CME Education.
• Stoyko, N., Pivot Points and Camarilla Equations (self-published practitioner note, circa 1989-1990). Cited in trading community references.
• Murphy, J.J., Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, Prentice Hall (1999). Chapter on support, resistance and pivots.
• Investopedia, "Pivot Point Definition", Investopedia (accessed 2025). Defines Floor Trader and alternative pivot methods.
• De Villiers, V., The Point and Figure Investor (2004). References pivot-point variants in practitioner literature.

Educational research on historical data only. Not investment advice, not a signal, and never a performance promise. Past results do not predict future performance. Every reference is link-verified before publication and every paper is re-audited weekly against the library's editorial standard.

Last reviewed by the PropLedger research pipeline: 2026-09-27. Educational research on historical data, not financial advice.