The previous-day high/low (PDHL) strategy uses yesterday's high and low as trigger levels. A daily close above the prior high signals a long, a close below the prior low signals a short, and the stop sits on the other side of the trigger. On daily charts it trades less often than intraday versions, needs wider stops, and takes repeated losses in choppy ranges. So judge it by a full public record that includes the losers, not by its win rate.
Most of what you'll find on the previous day high low strategy is built for 15-minute or hourly charts. That's fine if you can watch a screen all day. This guide covers the same idea on the daily chart, where you check once a day. It uses real signals from my public record, including a day when four PDHL longs reversed at once. If you're new to signals, start with how daily signals work.
The short answer
PDHL is about as simple as a strategy gets. Mark yesterday's high and yesterday's low. If today's candle closes above yesterday's high, go long. If it closes below yesterday's low, go short. The stop goes on the other side. It's built for moves where price breaks out and keeps going, and it bleeds when price chops back and forth across those levels.
What's different here: these are daily-chart signals, and every one I publish goes on a public, dated record with its entry, original stop, stop moves and exit. You can check them yourself.
How PDHL works on a daily chart
The two levels
PDH is the previous day's high: the highest price traded during yesterday's daily candle. PDL is the previous day's low: the lowest price traded during that candle. Each new day, both levels reset to the candle that just closed.
For stocks, "yesterday" means the prior regular session. Crypto trades 24/7, so you have to pick where one day ends and the next begins. On my charts and signals, the crypto daily candle is the UTC day: it opens at 00:00 UTC and closes 24 hours later. That's 7:00 PM Central during daylight saving time. If you check my signals on a chart with a different daily close, your PDH and PDL can differ a little from mine.
Long and short triggers
The trigger is a close beyond the level, not a wick. If price spikes above yesterday's high during the day and then falls back, nothing happens. The candle has to finish above PDH to signal a long, or below PDL to signal a short.
Each new trigger flips the position. If you're long and a candle closes below the prior day's low, the long ends and a short begins. On my record that exit shows up as flip:short. The reverse, a short ending on a close above the prior high, shows up as flip:long. So once it starts, the strategy is always in a position. It's either long or short, and the opposite trigger is the way out.
| Event | Rule | Shown on the record as |
|---|---|---|
| Long entry | Daily close above the prior day's high | Side: long |
| Short entry | Daily close below the prior day's low | Side: short |
| Long exit by reversal | Daily close below the prior day's low | flip:short |
| Short exit by reversal | Daily close above the prior day's high | flip:long |
Where the stop goes, and how it moves
On my daily PDHL, the original stop on a long sits at the low of the day before the signal candle. That's the PDL at the moment of entry, the other side of the range. After that, the stop trails. Each day it moves up to the prior day's low if that's higher, and it never moves down. Shorts mirror this with highs.
Here's what that looks like on a real row, LTC-USD from live PDHL signals on my record:
| Date | What happened | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 | Long opened | Entry 64.68 |
| 2026-10-12 | Original stop set | 63.41 |
| 2026-10-13 | Stop moved up | 64.85 (above entry) |
| 2026-10-13 | Exit on flip:short | 61.07 |
Other sites handle the stop differently. PipLedgerFX uses an ATR-based stop for its intraday forex version, and TradeDiary has its own take on placement. There's no single correct choice. The one rule that holds everywhere: decide the stop before you enter.
Daily vs intraday PDHL
The ranking guides and backtests for this strategy, from DayTradingToolkit to LeadFinn and Secuora, run it on 15-minute or hourly candles. Moving it to the daily chart changes a few things:
| Intraday PDHL (15m / 1h) | Daily PDHL | |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers | A 15-minute or hourly close beyond yesterday's level | A daily close beyond yesterday's level |
| How often it trades | More often | Less often |
| Stop distance | Tighter | Wider, because a daily range is wider |
| Overnight risk | Often closed by end of day | Held overnight. Stocks can gap at the open, and crypto keeps trading while you sleep |
| Screen time | Watch during the session | Check once a day, after the close |
I'm not claiming daily is better. There's no comparative data here to say that. It's a different trade-off: fewer decisions and less screen time, in exchange for wider stops and bigger single-trade swings.
It's also worth knowing what the intraday tests found. LeadFinn tested a 15-minute version on 15 large NSE stocks over 12 months and reports a net loss after Indian trading charges. Secuora tested an hourly version on BTC and ETH and reports results close to breakeven but still slightly negative after fees. Neither test covers daily charts, and neither tells you how the daily version will do. They're a reminder that a simple rule isn't an edge by itself.
Live examples from my record
These rows come from live PDHL signals on my record, pulled on Oct 13, 2026. Losses first.
A losing week: four PDHL longs reversed in one day (published list)
The Published list started Oct 6, 2026. It carries the full stop history, and rows are never edited after publishing. At the time of the pull, it held four PDHL closes. All four were losses, and there was no published PDHL win yet.
| Opened | Ticker | Side | TF | Entry | Original stop | Stop move | Exit | Exit date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 | AR-USD | long | 1d | 4.3120 | 4.0720 | → 4.3840 (2026-10-13) | 3.7460 flip:short | 2026-10-13 | −2.36R / −13.13% |
| 2026-10-12 | CELO-USD | long | 1d | 0.0996 | 0.0953 | → 0.1002 (2026-10-13) | 0.0910 flip:short | 2026-10-13 | −2.00R / −8.63% |
| 2026-10-12 | LDO-USD | long | 1d | 0.4451 | 0.4202 | → 0.4501 (2026-10-13) | 0.4031 flip:short | 2026-10-13 | −1.69R / −9.44% |
| 2026-10-12 | LTC-USD | long | 1d | 64.68 | 63.41 | → 64.85 (2026-10-13) | 61.07 flip:short | 2026-10-13 | −2.84R / −5.58% |
Four coins broke above their prior-day highs on Oct 12. On Oct 13 the stops trailed up above entry on all four. Then all four reversed and closed below their prior-day lows the same day. That's what a failed breakout looks like on a daily chart: the move that triggered the entry didn't hold, and the opposite trigger took the trade out.
Why the losses were bigger than −1R
R is the distance from entry to the original stop, the amount the trade was planned to risk. Here's LTC-USD:
| Step | Math | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Risk (1R) = entry − original stop | 64.68 − 63.41 | 1.27 |
| Move = exit − entry | 61.07 − 64.68 | −3.61 |
| Result = move ÷ risk | −3.61 ÷ 1.27 | −2.84R |
That matches the record. The stop had been raised to 64.85, above entry, yet the exit came at 61.07. How? On a daily PDHL, the trailing stop on a long and the short trigger are the same line: the prior day's low. The exit fires on a flip, so it lands wherever price is when the flip fires, not at the line. When price drops through the level fast, the exit can land well past it. A stop is a plan, not a guaranteed price. That's the real cost of daily candles and wider ranges, and it's why I show results in R instead of only win/loss.
What wins look like (stored list)
The record page also has a second list, "Already stored." It holds the latest closed trades for the current top indicator on each asset. These rows show entry and exit only. They have no stop history, and they're replaced when the scorecard is rebuilt, so treat them as context, not verified evidence. Here are some PDHL rows from it, wins and losses:
| Opened | Ticker | Side | TF | Entry | Exit | Exit date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-18 | AR-USD | long | 1d | 2.6560 | 4.3780 stop | 2026-09-23 |
| 2026-08-15 | OCEAN-USD | long | 1d | 0.0942 | 0.1388 stop | 2026-08-31 |
| 2026-09-18 | LTC-USD | long | 1d | 53.94 | 70.94 stop | 2026-09-28 |
| 2026-10-07 | RUNE-USD | short | 1d | 0.7544 | 0.7023 stop | 2026-10-12 |
| 2026-08-19 | CRM | long | 1d | 195.80 | 205.33 flip | 2026-08-25 |
| 2026-09-12 | STORJ-USD | long | 1d | 0.0623 | 0.0358 flip | 2026-09-13 |
| 2026-09-01 | ICX-USD | long | 1d | 0.0143 | 0.0113 stop | 2026-09-02 |
| 2026-09-14 | ZIL-USD | long | 1d | 0.0035 | 0.0028 flip | 2026-09-15 |
Notice the winners that exit on "stop." A long can only exit on a stop above its entry price if the stop was raised above entry first. That's the trailing stop at work. I can't show those moves here, because stored rows don't keep them. In these rows, the wins came from trends that kept going for days, and the losses came from breakouts that reversed quickly.
I'm not giving win rates or averages from this list. It only holds the latest closes per asset, so any total would be a skewed sample.
When PDHL fails: chop and sweeps
PDHL has one big weakness: ranges. When price goes sideways, it pokes above yesterday's high, closes there, then drops back below yesterday's low a day or two later. Each poke is a new signal and a new loss.
DayTradingToolkit explains the two ways a break of the prior-day level can play out. A breakout pushes through and keeps going. A sweep pushes through, takes out the stops sitting just beyond the level, and reverses back into the range. On the first day, the two look the same. You only know which one you got after the fact.
That's why so many traders feel like their stops get hunted. In r/Daytrading, people ask why their stop gets hit all the time. Part of the answer is that obvious levels, like yesterday's high and low, are where everyone's stops cluster, so price tends to test them.
The Oct 12–13 cluster above is a daily-chart version of this. Four coins broke out together, then reversed together the next day. When several coins reverse on the same day, the whole market may be moving, not four separate setups failing. Holding several PDHL longs in coins that move together isn't much diversification.
The STORJ-USD row in the stored list shows the other risk. It opened Sept 12 as a long and exited on a flip the next day, well below its entry. Stored rows have no stop history, so I can't show where its stop sat. But a breakout that reversed that hard a day after entry shows how far past any planned stop a fast move can carry price.
How to check PDHL signals yourself
You don't have to trust any of the numbers in this article. Check them:
- Open live PDHL signals on my record and pick a PDHL row from the Published list.
- Open that ticker's daily chart. For crypto, use a chart that closes the daily candle at 00:00 UTC, so your candles match mine.
- Find the candle before the entry date. Note its high (the PDH) and its low (the PDL).
- Confirm the entry candle closed above that PDH for a long, or below the PDL for a short.
- Check that the original stop matches the PDL (long) or PDH (short) at entry, and that each stop move matches the prior day's low or high on its date.
- Find the exit date and confirm the flip: a close beyond the opposite level.
Want to follow one from the start? Write down a PDHL setup from today's signals and check it against the chart each day until it closes. For a broader checklist on judging any signal service, see how to check a track record.
FAQ
What is the previous day high and low?
The previous day high (PDH) is the highest price traded during the prior daily candle. The previous day low (PDL) is the lowest. Many traders watch them as key levels because they're on every chart. For crypto, the day depends on where the daily close is set. On my charts, the crypto day closes at 00:00 UTC.
Is PDHL a breakout or a reversal strategy?
The way I run it, PDHL is a breakout strategy that also reverses. A close above the prior high goes long, a close below the prior low goes short, and each new trigger flips the position. Some traders do the opposite and fade a "sweep" that pokes past the level and snaps back. That's a different strategy with different rules.
Where should the stop go on a PDHL trade?
On my daily version, a long's original stop goes at the low of the day before the signal candle, and a short's goes at that day's high. The stop then trails daily to the prior day's low (long) or high (short), and it never moves against you. Intraday versions often use tighter or ATR-based stops.
Does PDHL work on daily charts, or only intraday?
It runs on both. Daily PDHL trades less often, needs wider stops, and takes less screen time. There's no comparative data here showing one timeframe is better. Intraday tests I've seen came out negative or near breakeven after costs. Judge the daily version by a full record of live signals, losses included.
Why can a PDHL loss be bigger than 1R?
Because the exit fires on a daily flip, not at an exact stop price. When price drops through the level quickly, the exit lands past it. On my record, LTC-USD risked 1.27 per unit but exited 3.61 below entry, a −2.84R loss. That happened even though its stop had been raised above entry the same day.
Does PDHL work for crypto as well as stocks?
The rules are the same for both. The differences are practical. Crypto trades 24/7, so the daily close has to be defined. Mine is 00:00 UTC. Stocks have a fixed session and can gap at the open. Crypto often moves more in a day, so stops sit wider. My record has PDHL signals on both.
How can I check a PDHL signal against the chart?
Open the ticker's daily chart and find the candle before the entry. Note its high and low. Confirm the entry candle closed beyond the right level, the stop matches the opposite level, and the exit candle closed beyond the opposite level. For crypto, use daily candles that close at 00:00 UTC.
See the live signals
PDHL is simple to describe and hard to judge from a few examples. The only honest test is a full record, losing days like Oct 13 included. ALK Trading is free for everyone.
See every live PDHL signal, wins and losses, on the record.
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