Trader’s Cheat Sheet

How to read this

• The ladder — levels are ranked highest price at the top to lowest at the bottom. Levels above the last price read as resistance; levels below read as support. The nearest level to the last price is the one most likely to matter next.
• Pivot points — the classic floor-trader R1–R3 / Pivot / S1–S3, derived from the last session’s high, low and close. They project intraday support and resistance for the next session.
• Moving averages — the price the symbol needs to reach to cross its 5, 20, 50, 100, 150 or 200-day average. Crossing above is read as strength, below as weakness.
• Standard-deviation bands — ±1σ/2σ/3σ off the last five closes. Roughly two-thirds of moves stay inside ±1σ, ~95% inside ±2σ.
• Unfilled gaps (windows) — a candlestick window is empty space a session leaves when its whole range clears the day before. Price tends to return and “fill” it, so an unfilled window is a magnet: a rising window sits below as support, a falling window above as resistance.
• 52-week high / low — the extremes of the trailing year; breakouts through them are the highest-conviction levels.