Camarilla fade and breakout
Camarilla pivots turn yesterday's high, low and close into a ladder of intraday levels. This strategy uses the two most watched pairs on NIFTY futures. A rejection at H3 or L3 is faded back toward the other side, while a 5-minute close beyond H4 or L4 is treated as a breakout and followed. Only the first signal of the day is traded, and everything is closed by 15:15.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
Trend days carried the strategy: 63 trades made ₹68,281, because a close beyond H4 or L4 on such a day tends to reach the 2R target. Choppy days lost ₹76,204 over 54 trades, since the market crosses the levels both ways and the first signal is often wrong. Volatility helped: after a VIX close above 14.5 trades made ₹25,493 over 58, and after VIX below 11.5 they lost ₹31,379 over 63, when ranges are narrow and the levels sit close together. Quiet sessions were roughly flat, so the fade side did not add much in calm markets.
About this strategy
- Before the open, compute the levels from the previous session's near-month futures bar: H3 and L3 sit 1.1 x range / 4 from the close, H4 and L4 at 1.1 x range / 2.
- Build 5-minute bars from the futures prices, plus a 20-bar EMA of their closes.
- Breakout: if a bar closes above H4 and above the EMA, buy one lot on the next tick; if it closes below L4 and below the EMA, sell. Stop back at H3 or L3; target twice the entry-to-stop distance.
- Fade: only if the session opened between L3 and H3. A bar that touches H3 but closes below it is sold, with the stop at H4 and the target at L3; the mirror image buys at L3.
- Take only the first signal from a bar closing by 14:30.
- Exit on the stop, the target, or at 15:15. Sessions right after a futures expiry are skipped.
Why traders use it
Camarilla levels are widely shown on Indian trading screens, so many traders watch the same prices and the levels can become self-fulfilling. The set-up offers two complementary plays: inside the H3–L3 band the market is expected to range, so edges are faded; beyond H4 or L4 it is expected to trend, so breaks are followed. Each trade has a stop and target already defined by the levels, which suits traders who want precise, pre-planned risk.
The year in plain words
On NIFTY from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 the strategy took 216 trades and won 48%, with average win and loss nearly equal (₹5,581 against ₹5,330). Breakouts were stopped 53 times and hit target 19 times; fades were stopped 36 times and hit target 28 times; 80 trades closed at 15:15. Net P&L was a ₹16,506 loss before costs and ₹70,249 after ₹20 per order and slippage. February to May made money, but December, January and June each lost about ₹30,000 or more, giving a ₹93,502 drawdown before costs.
What the settings do
Risks
- The levels depend on yesterday's range, so stop distances vary a lot from day to day and some losses are large.
- Fades fight the market at a level many traders watch, and a strong day goes straight through it.
- About 216 round trips a year make the result sensitive to brokerage and slippage, which turned a small loss into a much larger one.
- Only the first signal is traded, so a bad first trade cannot be recovered the same day.
Who it suits
Intraday futures traders who like level-based trading with fixed stops and targets, can watch or automate 5-minute signals, and have the margin for a NIFTY futures lot.
Questions traders ask
What are Camarilla pivot levels?
They are support and resistance levels calculated from the previous session's high, low and close. H3 and L3 sit about a quarter of the prior range (times 1.1) from the close, and H4 and L4 about half of it. Traders treat H3 and L3 as reversal zones and H4 and L4 as breakout points.
How is the Camarilla H3 L3 strategy traded?
If the market opens between L3 and H3, a touch of H3 that fails to close above it is sold, with a stop at H4 and a target at L3. A failed break of L3 is bought the same way. The idea is that the market stays in the band on a range day.
Is the Camarilla pivot strategy profitable on NIFTY?
In this backtest from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 it lost ₹16,506 before costs and ₹70,249 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, winning 48% of 216 trades. Statutory charges are not included. Past results do not guarantee future ones.
Why skip the session after a futures expiry?
The levels come from the previous day's futures bar. After expiry, that bar belongs to the old contract while trading moves to the next month, which trades at a different price, so the levels would be misplaced.