Previous Day High / Low (PDH / PDL)
The high and low of the prior regular session — the most-watched levels on any intraday chart, and the most common place stops cluster.
The Previous Day High (PDH) and Previous Day Low (PDL) are the highest and lowest prices of the prior regular trading session (9:30 AM–4:00 PM ET). They are on almost every trader's chart, which is exactly what makes them important: when everyone watches the same level, everyone puts their stops in the same place.
How to read them:
- ●Above PDH: buy stops from shorts and breakout orders from buyers — a Liquidity Pool.
- ●Below PDL: sell stops from longs and breakdown orders from sellers — a Liquidity Pool.
- ●The first trip to either level is where you learn the most. A wick through that closes back inside is a Liquidity Sweep. Two closes through that hold is Acceptance.
Not all PDH/PDL levels are equal. A clean high left by one fast selloff is obvious to everyone and attracts a thick pool. A high buried inside a choppy afternoon range is less obvious and carries fewer stops. SPXXL's Liquidity Map scores this as obviousness and draws the clean levels solid and the buried ones dotted.
For 0DTE traders: PDH and PDL are locations to watch, not orders to place. Wait for the reaction. If the level is swept and price reclaims back inside with structure confirming, a vertical debit spread in the direction of the reclaim expresses the idea with the debit paid as your maximum loss.
This entry is educational and uses SPX for illustration — it is not financial advice, and no outcome is predicted or guaranteed.
Related Terms
A cluster of resting stop orders sitting just beyond an obvious level — the fuel large players need to fill size. A location, not a signal.
The high and low printed by S&P 500 futures between the 6:00 PM ET reopen and the 9:30 AM ET cash open — the overnight Liquidity Pools the regular session opens into.
A session where price probes beyond key levels to trigger clustered stop-loss orders before reversing — designed to trap directional traders.
When price closes through a level and holds there — the market agrees to trade at the new price, so the level is spent as a Liquidity Pool.
The price range established during the first 30 minutes of trading (9:30-10:00 AM ET) — a key reference for the entire session.