What is Central Pivot Range (CPR) In Trading?

by BG

Published On Nov. 25, 2024

In this article

The financial market is very unpredictable with price changes constantly happening for many different reasons. The trader and investor are always seeking some kind of tool or technique that would guide them through such fluctuations and make them wise decision makers. Technical analysis provides several indicators to interpret the trends in the market, and the Central Pivot Range, CPR, is gaining more and more popularity. CPR in stock market analysis provides a valuable framework for understanding potential price movements. It empowers traders to identify key support and resistance levels and, hence, refine their CPR trading strategy and possibly improve their trading outcomes. So, what is it, actually? How do you apply this tool?

In simple words, in the stock market, CPR may be termed as a technical indicator based on the trading activity over the previous day. There are three important levels discovered from the high, low, and closing prices and the three important levels involved: the central pivot point or PP, the top central pivot point or TC, and the bottom central pivot point or BC. These levels make up the Central Pivot Range, which is represented as a band on a price chart. The first thing to do would be understanding the full form of the CPR in the stock market with its underlying calculations, which form the CPR formula.

What is the Full Form of CPR in the Stock Market?

CPR stands for Central Pivot Range. It is used as a widely known technical indicator in the stock trading platform, which gives insights for the potential price movements to be expected. The stock market CPR is calculated as a simple CPR formula for the previous day's trade data. The price of the highest price, the lowest price, and closing of a particular stock or index, for the formula to be applied upon would give three key levels of prices.

  1. Central Pivot Point (PP): It is the middle point of the range that could be viewed as supporting or resisting.
  2. Top Central Pivot Point or TC: This is the maximum value that is available in the range and is mostly used as resistance.
  3. Lower center pivot point (BC): The lowest value of a range can be a center of support.

The Central Pivot Range is the total of these three levels that are visualized as a band on a price chart. In the stock market, it is crucial to understand the CPR full form and its components so that this indicator can be effectively used.

How to Use CPR Indicator in Trading?

The central pivot range indicator can be a multi-functional tool used with several trading strategies for CPR. This is how the CPR traders apply this method:

  • Finding Support and Resistance: TC, PP, and BC are zones which are often referred to as potential areas of support or resistance. The price finds the bounce at BC level. If the price reaches to TC then it could bounce from TC as resistance.

  • Trend Confirmation: CPR is used to find out if the current market trend is upwards or downwards. When the price continues trading above the PP, it means that the market is trending up; otherwise, when trading below the PP may indicate that the market is trending down.

  • Entry and Exit Points: Traders use CPR levels to establish probable entry and exit points. A breakout above the TC might be an opportunity to buy, while a breakdown below the BC would quite likely be an opportunity to sell.

The CPR, mixed with technical indicators and analyzing the action of price, offers some room for strong strategies from these CPR indicators to a trader. Some traders are using even specific tricks within the CPR indicator to get entries and exit fine-tuning; yet one should not forget, though that CPR is simply a tool, and a comprehensive understanding through other means would get much better results for traders.

This is how you can include CPR in your trading system, significantly enhancing your potential for detecting possible trading opportunities and mitigating risks. It may be an important step for any experienced trader or newcomer in your trading career to look at the possibility of this central pivot range indicator.

CPR Formula Explained

The central pivot range indicator owes its effectiveness to its simple nature and straightforward calculation. The CPR formula uses readily available data, namely the prior day's high, low, and close prices, which are then used for the computation of the three pivotal levels that make up the CPR. Here's how the formula is built:

  • Pivot Point (PP): (High + Low + Close) / 3
  • Bottom Central Pivot Point (BC): (High + Low) / 2
  • Top Central Pivot Point or TC: Pivot Point - BC + Pivot Point

As you would see, the CPR formula is relatively simple to understand and apply. Most trading platforms also calculate and display these levels automatically. It makes it easy for a trader to apply CPR into his CPR trading strategy.

Advantages of Using CPR Indicator

The benefits of the main pivot range indicator make it popular for the traders as:

  1. The CPR formula is simple and therefore understandable by everybody, from beginners to professionals.
  2. This CPR can be visualized on a price chart as a band and gives an easy view of potential zones of support and resistance.
  3. CPR may be applied to various styles of trading, from day trading to swing trading.
  4. CPR can confirm the prevalent market trend through the observation of price action against the pivot point.
  5. Breakout above TC or breakdown below BC can offer possible entry and exit signals.
  6. CPR levels can be used to set stop-loss orders, which helps the traders manage their risk very well.

While the Central Pivot Range Indicator does make for a very valuable input, always remember that no indicator goes completely foolproof. Instead, CPR must be married with other technical indicators and Price Action Analysis in order to make the right trading calls. With knowledge of the meaning of CPR full form stock market and its potential, your trading strategy can become better over time and help you make better calls concerning the stock market.

Central Pivot Range Indicator Strategy

Although the CPR formula is a great base, the real power of CPR lies in strategic application. The clever trader incorporates the central pivot range indicator into their CPR trading strategy in several ways:

  1. Breakout Trading: Traders often look for breakout points above the TC or below the BC. A breakout with strong volume can be a sign of a momentum shift and can be an entry point.
  2. Range-Bound Trading: The price remaining in the CPR, one could use a range-bound trading strategy: buy when near the BC support and sell when near the TC resistance.
  3. Trend Confirmation: The relationship of the price to the PP can serve to confirm which trend is ongoing. Above the PP continuously indicates a bull market; below the PP, the downtrend is ongoing.
  4. Combining with Other Indicators: CPR can be combined with other technical indicators such as moving averages, RSI, or MACD to enhance trading signals and confirm potential entries or exits.

Developing a strong CPR indicator strategy calls for understanding the CPR full form in the stock market, its computation, and interaction with price action, as well as other indicators. Traders keep trying different tricks and techniques related to the CPR indicator for optimizing trading approach.

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How to Use CPR on TradingView

Trading View a widely used charting platform offers a user-friendly interface where one can add CPR to analysis, including:

  1. Enter "CPR" on the indicators section and insert it into your chart. Once inserted, you may personalize settings to your liking: the color and thickness of the CPR lines.
  2. Observe how the price is reacting to the TC, PP, and BC levels. Note any support and resistance areas.
  3. See if the price is always trading above or below the PP to identify the general trend.
  4. Observe breakouts, range-bound moves, or other patterns that might match your CPR trading strategy.

TradingView gives a powerful platform to visualize and analyze CPR in real-time. Combining the central pivot range indicator with other tools and features available on TradingView, traders can gain insight into market dynamics and thus make more informed trading decisions.

Common Tricks of Using CPR Indicator

Professionals have various CPR indicator tricks for fine-tuning the CPR trading strategy to gain an edge over the marketplace. Here are a few:

  1. Narrow CPR Breakout: If the CPR is very narrow, meaning extremely low volatility, then a move above the TC or move below the BC could mark strong potential moves.
  2. CPR with pivot point trading: This would add further confirmation signals when using CPR with the pivot point kind of analysis. For example, in case of a breakout over the TC if it falls on the breakout over a major pivot point it can really be a much stronger bull signal.
  3. CPR and Price Action: With CPR levels, types of price action such as candlestick patterns, chart formations near CPR are also going to give worthwhile insights on possible reversals or continuations.
  4. CPR and Volume: Using volume along with CPR helps to validate the strength of a breakout or breakdown. Powerful volume on a breakout would indicate greater conviction and higher follow-through.
  5. CPR and Time of Day: Some traders monitor how price behaves with CPR levels at certain times of the day, such as opening range breakouts or closing ranges at the end of the day.

The skill in the CPR indicator master can refine the entry and exit points of a trader, risk management, and, therefore, profitability.

Combining CPR with Other Indicators

While CPR is certainly powerful enough on its own, only through adding other technical indicators will trading signals become more robust and the market view more full-fledged. Here are a few of them:

  • Relative Strength Index (RSI): The RSI is a momentum oscillator that helps identify overbought and oversold conditions. A break above the TC in the case of an uptrend and not being overbought on the RSI could be very strong bullish confirmation.

  • CPR and Moving Averages: The moving averages could also help show the direction of the broader trend while offering dynamic resistance and support levels. Also, the breakout above TC, combined with a successful price move above a trend line which also happens to be a significant moving average at 20 days, can definitely strengthen the bullish signal.

  • CPR and MACD: Moving Average Convergence Divergence or MACD is a line oscillator trend following momentum indicator. When the price closes above the TC, where also the MACD features an upward crossover, it consolidates the up-move.

By combining the central pivot range indicator with other indicators, traders can create a robust CPR indicator strategy that filters out false signals, confirms high-probability trades, and improves overall trading performance. Remember, the key is to experiment and find a combination of indicators that works best for your individual trading style and risk tolerance.

Conclusion

The Central Pivot Range is an important, very versatile tool in a trader's analysis when searching for the potential levels of support and resistance within the stock market. A simple application of the CPR formula integrated into a clearly defined strategy would greatly facilitate decision-making through improved market insights. Used as a standalone or together with other indicators, the central pivot range indicator is one of those easy ways to come up with good trades and reduce risk efficiently. In short, when you read into more about technical analysis and you test various tricks with CPR, the CPR full form will play an important role in expanding your trading toolset.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the various types of Central Pivot Range (CPR)?

The standard CPR calculation utilizes the previous day's high, low, and close. However, traders modify the CPR formula for other timeframes. Thus, a weekly CPR will make use of the data of the previous week while a monthly CPR will be making use of the previous month's data. It gives traders the opportunity to use the central pivot range indicator on various trading styles and horizons.

How reliable is the Central Pivot Range (CPR) regarding predicting market moves?

Anything technical in nature has never been foolproof. They provide potential support and resistance zones but don't offer a guarantee on price actions. However, when utilized in conjunction with other analytical tools, such as identifying price action patterns, volume analyses, and other indicators, CPR can be very effective in upgrading the accuracy of market predictions.

What happens when the price breaks above or below the Central Pivot Range?

A breakout above the TC of the central pivot range indicator would often be suggestive of an upward move, while a breakdown below the BC is indicative of a possible move downwards. Such breakouts point to a shift in momentum, and this provides some kind of trading opportunities. Nonetheless, such breakouts should always be confirmed by other indicators, and a market scenario should always be put in mind before taking action in the markets.

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