Central Pivot Range (Pivot, TC, BC) defines the day's equilibrium zone. Narrow CPR predicts a trending day; wide CPR predicts range. Trade breakouts of TC/BC in narrow-CPR days.
Timeframe: 15m / Daily
Indicators: Central Pivot Range
CPR with trend following — illustrative synthetic chartEMA 9EMA 21
Setup
Compute CPR from previous day's H/L/C: Pivot = (H+L+C)/3, BC = (H+L)/2, TC = 2×Pivot − BC
CPR width = TC − BC; narrow width (< 0.3% of price) predicts trend day, wide (> 0.7%) predicts range
Plot yesterday's CPR on today's intraday chart along with today's CPR
Entry
Narrow-CPR day: wait for a decisive 15-min candle to close above TC (long) or below BC (short). Enter on the next candle's open. Wide-CPR day: fade extremes back toward CPR — sell rallies to R1 with a target of the Pivot.
Exit
Trend day: target R1/R2 (long) or S1/S2 (short); trail stop at each new pivot. Range day: exit at CPR mid-line.
Stop-loss
Trend day: back inside the CPR (i.e., below TC on longs, above BC on shorts). Range day: beyond R1/S1.
When it works
Narrow-CPR breakout days with strong volume — the highest-probability CPR setup
Nifty or BankNifty where daily pivots draw institutional interest
Post-holiday sessions where the prior close is a meaningful reference
When it fails
Wide-CPR days used for breakout trades — high whipsaw rate
Overnight news reprices the market — CPR from yesterday becomes irrelevant
Ultra-tight CPR (< 0.1%) triggers on any small candle — filter needs a minimum width too
General trading rules that apply
Regardless of the specific setup, these apply to every strategy on this site:
Never risk more than 2% of your account on a single trade
Place a hard stop-loss before entering — no exceptions
Journal every trade: setup, reason, outcome, one lesson
After two consecutive losses, stop for the session
Backtest and paper-trade for a month before deploying real capital
Educational content only
Every strategy here is an educational description of a widely-known technical setup. Past behavior does not guarantee future results. The chart above uses synthetic price data generated for illustration — real market behavior varies. Backtest, paper-trade, and size responsibly before risking real capital.