Central Pivot Range

What is the Central Pivot Range?

The central pivot range (CPR) is a three-line pivot construct computed from the prior period's high, low, and close. The central pivot is the familiar (high + low + close) / 3; the bottom central line is the range midpoint, (high + low) / 2; the top central line mirrors it on the other side, (2 × pivot) - bottom central, so the pivot sits exactly halfway between the two. Plotted across the following session, the band frames the prior period's consensus area, a formula-based cousin of the volume profile's value area.

The construct builds on floor pivots and was popularized in pivot-trading literature largely for its width analysis. The width works out to two-thirds of the distance between the prior close and the prior range midpoint, so a narrow CPR marks a session that closed near the middle of its range (balance, indecision) and a wide CPR one that closed near an extreme (directional drive). The common reading follows from that: narrow CPRs are watched for breakout or trend days ahead, wide CPRs for rotation, as tendencies rather than guarantees. A virgin CPR, one price never touched during its own session, is kept plotted forward as an untested reference.

How to calculate the Central Pivot Range

One prior period supplies every input; the prior day is the standard choice for intraday use.

1. 1Take the prior period's high (H), low (L), and close (C).
2. 2Compute the pivot: P = (H + L + C) / 3, the same central pivot used by floor traders.
3. 3Compute the pair around it: bottom central = (H + L) / 2 and top central = (2 × P) - bottom central. When the close finished below the range midpoint the two swap, so platforms simply draw the higher value on top.
4. 4Plot all three lines across the new session and compare the width, top minus bottom, against recent sessions to classify it as narrow or wide.

How traders use it

• Width analysis: a notably narrow CPR flags a balanced prior session and puts traders on alert for expansion; a wide CPR follows a directional session and sets expectations for rotation. Both are tendencies to prepare for, not outcomes to assume.
• Intraday bias: sustained trade above the range reads bullish, below reads bearish, and time spent inside it is treated as balance, where traders more often look to fade the band's edges than to chase.
• Two-day relationships: today's CPR printing entirely above yesterday's supports a continuation lean, entirely below the reverse, and heavy overlap suggests a developing trading range.
• Virgin CPRs: ranges price never entered on their own day are tracked as future references, on the logic that untested consensus areas may matter later. Nothing obliges price to return or to react.

Central Pivot Range vs related constructs