Prior Day Levels: PDH, PDL, PD Open, PD Close, PD EQ
If you only had five intraday levels to work with, the prior day's high, low, open, close and equilibrium would be the right five. They are the most universally watched reference points across futures, equities, and increasingly crypto — because every desk that traded yesterday is anchored to them, and every algorithm respects them as decision boundaries.
This guide covers each prior-day level in turn: what it represents, how it's calculated, and why price keeps reacting at it. By the end you'll know exactly why a fade trade at PDH or PDL has measurable edge and why PD EQ is one of the most under-appreciated levels in trading.
Why Yesterday Matters
Markets aren't memoryless. Every trader and algo that holds a position overnight has yesterday's price action burned into their risk model: their stops, profit targets, alerts, and re-entry levels are anchored to yesterday's structure. When today's price returns to one of those anchors, the same crowd reacts.
That's why prior-day levels work. They are not magic numbers — they are coordinated focal points where execution decisions converge.
The Five Prior-Day Levels
PDH — Prior Day High
The single highest traded price of the prior session. Sellers stopped yesterday's rally here. Reactions today: rejection on first test (about 65% of sessions), with breakouts more likely on continuation/breakout day types. PDH is one of two "until-touch" levels TradingPit fades — once price touches PDH, the line dims, signalling the level has been resolved.
PDL — Prior Day Low
The mirror image of PDH. Buyers absorbed yesterday's decline here. First-test rejections happen ~65% of the time; breakdowns when range expansion is in progress. Strong PDL holds often coincide with prior-day VAL and weekly support.
PD Open
The first traded price of yesterday's session. Used by traders to gauge where today's open sits relative to yesterday's open — a useful framing for trend-following or mean-reverting bias.
PD Close
The last traded price of yesterday. Anchor for the overnight gap calculation. Sustained trade above or below PD Close on the next day signals which side won the overnight auction. The TradingPit Market Context panel uses PD Close in concert with PD Open to set Open Type.
PD Settlement
The exchange-official end-of-day price. For futures, this is calculated by CME or other venues as a closing-window VWAP and is the legal reference price for margin and P&L. Often within ticks of PD Close but not identical. For most discretionary purposes, treat as equivalent to PD Close.
PD EQ — Prior Day Equilibrium
The midpoint of yesterday's range. PD EQ = (PDH + PDL) / 2.
An overlooked level. PD EQ is where yesterday's auction was perfectly balanced — half the range above, half below. Today, when price returns to PD EQ, it tends to either pause (trend day pulling back to retest mid-range) or reject (rotational day finding the centre).
PD EQ is rendered as a dash-dot line in the daily colour token on TradingPit and is one of the highest-priority intraday decision levels (priority 80 in the design system).
How TradingPit Uses Prior-Day Levels
All five PD levels are rendered automatically on every chart, sourced from the daily_levels table maintained by the level engine. They appear as horizontal lines starting at yesterday's RTH open (09:30 ET) for ES/NQ, or yesterday's globex open (18:00 ET previous-prior day) for full-session futures and BTC.
The "until-touch" rule applies to PDH and PDL: once today's price has touched them, the line is faded to indicate the level has been resolved (a fresh re-test from the opposite side then resets it to active).
Common Trade Setups
- First-test fade. Price approaches PDH or PDL for the first time today. Look for a rejection candle (long upper/lower wick, lower volume than the approach) and enter against the test. Stop just beyond the level; target PD EQ.
- Acceptance breakout. Price breaks PDH or PDL and holds above/below for two 5-minute closes. Continuation entry on the first pullback to the broken level. Target: prior week's level on the same side.
- PD EQ scalp. Price touches PD EQ during a slow rotational day. Fade with tight stop above/below and target the nearer extreme.
- Open vs close gap. Today's open above PD Close + sustained trade = bullish bias. Today's open below + sustained trade = bearish.
Combining With Higher Timeframes
Prior-day levels become substantially more powerful in confluence with weekly and monthly references. A PDH that also marks the prior-week's VAH AND yesterday's session VWAP +1 SD is a multi-timeframe rejection zone. The TradingPit cluster mode highlights such intersections automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is PDH so important?
PDH is yesterday's high — the price at which sellers stopped the prior day's advance. When today's price returns there, the same sellers (or their algos) often re-enter, making it a high-probability resistance level.
What is the difference between PD Close and PD Settlement?
PD Close is the last traded price; PD Settlement is the official exchange-set end-of-day price (a closing-window VWAP). For most retail purposes they're nearly identical; settlement is the legal reference for futures.
Should I trade PDH/PDL on crypto?
Yes. TradingPit defines the BTC trading day at the 18:00 ET globex-equivalent open, so PDH/PDL remain meaningful as session-aligned levels.
PDH, PDL, EQ, Open, Close drawn automatically
TradingPit renders every prior-day level on every chart with the until-touch rule applied.
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