Camarilla pivots are calculated from the previous day's high, low and close, but they produce levels closer to the current price than classic pivots.
Formula:
H4 = close + range × 1.1 / 2
H3 = close + range × 1.1 / 4
L3 = close − range × 1.1 / 4
L4 = close − range × 1.1 / 2
Typical use:
H3/L3: potential reversal areas in ranging days.
H4/L4: breakout levels, when price breaks through and holds.
Differences from classic pivots: Camarilla levels are tighter and suited to intraday ranges. As with all pivots, the result depends on which daily close your broker uses.
Do you use Camarilla pivots, and do you trade the H3/L3 or H4/L4 levels?
I use H3 and L3 more than H4 and L4 on ranging London days. The tighter band sits closer to price, so mean reversion scratches fit my stop size better than waiting for the outer breakout levels.
Broker daily close still decides whether the print matches anyone else's. A 17:00 New York close versus a 23:00 server close moved my H3 by several pips on EURUSD more than once, enough to turn a clean reject into a through print.
On trend days I ignore H3 fades after the second failure. If London has already driven through H3 and held above it for two M15 closes, I stop selling that level and treat H4 as the breakout watch instead.
I calculate from the previous day's high, low and close only, no weekly mix. Mixing timeframes made the levels look precise and behave like noise in the journal.
The formula's 1.1 factor is what pulls them inside classic pivots. That is useful for scalps and useless if I pretend they are institutional magnets.
I stick to one fixed close time even when the broker bar rolls differently. Do you recalculate on the broker roll, or keep one close?
FXS Prop Desk, Monday Camarilla versus midweek is the split I wish I had logged sooner. On Mondays my H3 fades on EURUSD scratched or lost about twice as often as the same fade on Tuesday to Thursday in a twelve week sheet, mostly because Sunday gaps leave the prior day range distorted.
I still calculate from the broker daily HLC, but I tag Monday levels as soft. Soft means bias and alerts only, never a resting stop on H3 until London has printed two M15 closes that respect the level.
Volume at the touch helps. A first tap of H3 on falling tick volume is my preferred scratch setup; a tap into a news spike is ignored even if the formula is perfect.
H4 breaks still need the two M15 hold I mentioned before, and on Mondays I want a third close. The extra bar cut two false breakouts that would have been valid midweek under the old rule.
I keep one close time and refuse Sunday synthetic ranges. Mixing a weekend candle into Monday Camarilla made the band look tidy and trade like noise.
Do you soften Monday Camarilla the same way, or treat every session day as equal?
