lockstock said:
Mully,
Surely the VA areas & the Pivot point R/S areas are derived from the same data.
ie. there must be some sort of correlation between the two
Imho
lockstock,
VA areas, POC's and MP in general is a depiction of price over/through time. Pivot points and R/S areas/zones are only concerned with time in as much as they are based on the open/close/high/low over a day (or more properly I suppose, a session).
So they are not strictly speaking derived from the same data (albeit, it is all price).
However, as we know, pivot points and R/S can be "traded" in the same way as MP.
It certainly used to be the case that trading between R1 and S1 was considered neutral (in directional terms). It was mainly controlled by the floor, who would look to to move the market to R1 and S1 looking for institutional interest. This is just an extension of the way in which the floor frequently controls the auction throughout the rest of the session, looking for where the large buyers and sellers are.
Conceptually, I suppose this is similar to the notion that the market shifts between balance and imbalance, with traders striving to sell above value (at the offer) and buy below it (at the bid).
Even though floor traders pivots and S/R are "contrived" numbers, they have worked in the past (predominantly on the S&P) because of the nature of the open outcry market. Will they continue to work as the cme continues to change, with off-floor trading expanding at a much faster rate than on floor? Who knows. You just have to keep an open mind about it.
My own limited experience looking at markets other than the S&P and NAS would suggest that floor traders pivots and S/R are far less useful. In truth, why would they be?, given the nature of electronic trading?
So, in summary, the main difference between floor traders pivots and MP? Floor traders pivots are contrived support/resistance levels that are useful as long as there are floor traders that use them. MP works because it shows "natural" support and resistance levels/zones. My own view (fwiw, probably nowt...) is that MP's representation of supply and demand balances/imbalances is far more useful across a wide range of markets (no matter what the mechanics of the market).
Oh, sorry the reply was a bit delayed..... (and if the reply seems a bit OT with regard to original thread). Just thought it was an interesting question that was worth going back to.