Levels

PDH and PDL: previous day high and low

The two levels that need no interpretation, and the reason they get hit so often.

PDH PDL trading comes down to two lines. PDH and PDL are the previous day high and the previous day low. That is all they
are, and that is exactly why they work. There is no setting to argue about and no version
that only you can see. Everyone looking at gold has the same two lines.

Why price reaches for them

Stops sit above the previous day high and below the previous day low. Anyone who
sold near the top has a stop above it, and anyone who bought near the bottom has one
below. That is a pool of resting orders in a known place, and price goes to known
places.

PDH and PDL: sweep or break

Getting to the level is not the trade. What happens next is:

• Sweep. Price pushes through, takes the stops, and comes straight
  back inside. That is the level holding, and the reversal from it is often fast.
• Break. Price goes through and stays through, and the level starts
  acting as support instead of resistance. Now it is a floor, not a ceiling.

You do not know which one it is at the moment of the touch. That is why a stop
belongs on the other side of the level rather than right at it.

The rest of the set

The same idea gives you previous week high and low, which matter more but come into
play less often, and the Asian session high and low, which London reaches for first.
On our live chart all of these sit in the panel with the distance to each one in pips,
so you can see which one price is actually near.

How we use pdh pdl on the live chart

Everything above is marked on our chart while the session runs, not drawn in afterwards. Pdh pdl goes on before price gets there, never after. The zones get shaded, each one carries its name and its price range, and a zone turns pale once price has already been through it. When price is sitting inside one, a banner says so on screen. That is deliberate: a level you only see after the move has happened proves nothing.

The panel in the corner shows whether each timeframe is above or below its 50 EMA, from one minute up to the daily, and how far away that average is in pips. When the short timeframes disagree with the daily, the level usually holds. When they all point the same way, it usually breaks. That is not a rule, it is a lean.

Gold is not a quiet market. It can move a hundred pips in an hour on a headline and spreads widen when it does. Position size matters more than entry on an instrument like this, and a stop belongs on the far side of the level rather than right against it. The World Gold Council publishes the demand and supply data behind the longer term moves if you want the fundamental side.

See pdh pdl live

We run a live chart through every session with pdh pdl marked on it, the zones shaded, and every order block and fair value gap labelled as it forms. Watch the live chart and you can see pdh pdl being used in real time rather than explained after the fact.

Every trade we close is published in pips on the results page, wins and losses both, with the date it closed and how far it ran before the exit. Nothing is left out and nothing is cherry picked. If you want to know what your own spread and commission are taking out of your results, the cost calculator works it out for a year on your own numbers.

Related: gold trading hours · order block · fair value gap · PDH and PDL

Education only, not financial advice. Trading gold carries a high level of risk and past results do not predict future results.