Im curious to see if anyone is trading on tick charts( OR JUST TICK DATA) using 1 tick ..if so, how can you make sense of it.. is there any information that can be gathered here. ?
i discovered tick charts a few years ago and haven't looked back for intraday trading. by looking at time charts (1 min example) you miss all the action that goes on during that 1 min which can be alot esp during high volatility times (crashes, econ releases, etc). just experiment with the right time frame for your trading style. the exact number of ticks doesn't matter that much (223 vs 224). what matters is how you're seeing the data (tick vs time).
The difficulty with these shorter time frames is to overcome commissions and slippage. You need a super fast platform, computer, probably a VPS close to the exchange, lots of things that add to the cost and complexity of the strategy.
I tried tick charts and didn't see teh magik with it, for me using 30 sec or 15 sec looks the same although I don't use those, I do use range bar charts though to help see where to set stops and breakout entries. My main chart is the 1 minute and with the daily chart to keep things in perspective.
Why even bother with a chart at this point, just read the time and sales and market depth and do it all mentally.
i trade fx. so time and sales is not possible. ordebookfx does a book but its doesnt have ebs data on it.. so that not so good.. to the guy that saaid.. read the time and sales.. isnt this the same with a perspective of the recent past..
if your scalping a few ticks.. the 5sec chart is useful.. but you need the absolute tightest spread/ and lowest commission to ever have a chance