Really Key Levels

█ OVERVIEW

This indicator shows the most useful and universally used key trading levels (and only those) in a visually appealing way. Its originality lies in the fact that it was developed due to being unable to find an indicator that wasn't cluttered with other features or far less relevant levels, or one that would indicate the bar causing the level (i.e., not just using a horizontal line over the whole chart), or one that was well-programmed and didn’t frequently refresh for many seconds for no obvious reason, taking far too long to do so for such a seemingly simple indicator.

█ FEATURES

• Shows the most frequently used key levels in a visually appealing way
  
• Indicates the bar that causes the level, with the line starting at that bar
  
• Works correctly and consistently on both RTH and ETH charts
  
• Lines can be optionally extended both left and right, if the user prefers
  
• Works with US/European stocks and US futures (at least)
  
• Configurable futures regular session (default time is for CME futures, e.g., ES/NQ, etc.)
  
• Users can configure line colour, style, and thickness
  
• Adjustable label locations to prevent overlap with other indicator labels
  
• Nice defaults that look good, and a well-contrasting label text colour
  
• Well-documented, high-quality, open-source code for those who are interested
  

█ CONCEPTS

The indicator shows the following levels by a line starting at the bar that causes them:

• Current Day RTH High/Low (visible and updated only during RTH; visible with no further updates in the post-market)
  
• Current Day RTH Open (only after the RTH open)
  
• Pre-Market High/Low (as it develops in the pre-market and fixed after RTH open)
  
• Previous Day RTH Close
  
• Previous Day RTH High/Low
  
• Previous Day Pre-Market High-Low
  
• Two Days Ago RTH Close
  

Other levels may be added in future versions, if requested and if they are Really Key Levels.

Regarding futures: despite being a 23-hour market (for CME futures, 5 p.m. the previous day to 4 p.m. the current day), most trading activity takes place together with the RTH on stock exchanges in New York, 08:30 to 3 p.m. Central (Chicago) time. Therefore, a user-configurable regular market is defined at those times, with times before this (from 5 p.m. the previous day) being considered pre-market, and times after this (until 4 p.m.) being considered post-market.

Care was taken so that the code uses no hard-coded time zones, exchanges, or session times. For this reason, it can in principle work globally. However, it very much depends on the information provided by the exchange, which is reflected in built-in Pine Script variables (see Limitations below).

█ LIMITATIONS

Pre-market levels are not shown when viewing an RTH chart.

The indicator was developed and tested on US/European stocks and US futures. It may or may not work for stocks and futures in other countries (depending on their pre- and post-market definitions and what information the exchange provides to TradingView via the relevant built-in Pine Script variable). It does not work on other security types, especially those with a 24-hour market that don't have a uniquely defined daily close, implicit H/L time window, or a pre-market.