What is a soft pivot point? This is where the closing price in the bar to the right of the pivot closes within the high low range of the pivot bar. This is normally accompanied by a volume indication and is indicative of a consolidation pattern (the stock moves sideways instead of retracing). The stock merely "rests" before continuing the established upward trend and is frequently accompanied by outside and inside bars. I frequently see a lot of traders exiting at this point, depriving themselves of valuable upside potential.
What is a hard pivot? This is where theclosing price in the bar to the right of the pivot closes outside the high low range of the pivot bar. These kinds of bars give a higher quality reference point for a retracement pattern as opposed to a consolidation pattern. I use a bollinger band with only a two day sample size to determine the size of the deviation from the pivot bar. Simply put, the higher the deviation from the pivot bar, the more likely the retracement pattern will emerge.