I look at them but generally do not trade off them. They sometimes give me a good picture of how the market feels that day
cash, loads of traders use tick charts to trade but it's meaningless to say you are looking at 200 and 400 tick charts because different data providers have different numbers of ticks in their download (i.e. some like IB sample the data) and different markets will have vastly different settings. Take a look at dacharts.com... look under daily charts and then look thru the posts until you find traders using tick charts for some ideas. It's a good idea to use tick alongside time but the settings will depend on what you are trading, your data provider and how fast you like your action. Hope this helps
I ALWAYS use tick charts...and NEVER time periods charts. the reason is that I can adjust the chart to an average tradeable range,, it would be impossible using time frame,,, as you could be in a 10pip range,, price move up or down over 100 pips in ONE minute and you would see nothing but a long long bar where I would probably see every "wave" in that move(my indicator would), and therefor send the orders accordigly,,,,, as the market has its moods,, you really need to adapt your charts all the time to make sure you are in a tradeable range,, I do that all the time,,,, using a range from less than 10 ticks to 1000's. ,,, just check it out ,, try diffrenet tick frames and view other parts in the chart to find that its obligatory to change frames in different moods or else youll find yourself where your system looses most trades after you have seen it giving you profits probably in a nice trend,,,the fact is that you set the chart to view what was already there in a very nice pattern when what realy counts(in my case) is to have a tradeable range within the last couple bars,,, so I adjust the chart to see a nice couple bars where my indicator will give me faster and more accurate signals,,,, Im actually working on some code that will hopefully change the tickframe and adjust automatically to a tradeable range. (wish me good luck). ALL THE BEST Rafael (spain)
I agree tick charts help especially if you are trading a short time frame. I apply a 89 tick chart and a 144 tick chart on the mini Dow. Then I look to see which one is providing the best signals for that time period. I also look at a 5 min chart for an overall picture of the trading day, sometimes placing a swing trade for the day on the 5 min. You can get only once or two signals on a trending day and ride it for 50+ points. That, along with 20 point - 30 point trades off the tick charts and your looking at some healthy profits. Experiment with the tick charts (use demos it can give you somewhat of a good picture) and see if it compliments your trading system/style. Also make sure that your data provider doesn't throttle ticks and that your internet connection is fast! Zen Fire + Fiber Optic Internet = No single tick missed !
Hi again,, the program I use is called 'amibroker'. A very easy to use program where with a little coding you can create whatever you propose for your trading sistem as most of it you can find in their library,,,,, find out what you need,,, copy and paste.. here is a quick start code for my charts,,,where I plot a tickchart and also have a scrollbari n the parameter window to add or to remove ticks in the bars ticks=param("ticks",-1,-10000,-1); timeframeset(ticks); plotohlc(o,h,l,c,"price",colorblack,stylebar); I hope it will help somewhat good luck Rafael (spain)
cash, I take it by your question about the e-mini you didn't bother to look at dacharts as I suggested?