I'm starting to use tick and volume charts and was wondering if anyone know what's the equivalent number of ticks for 3/5 and 30 minutes charts... Thanks!
Each market and data provider is slightly different. At the end of the week do a bar count - put in an arbitrary number and see how many bars it gives you. Then you can work backwards from that. 4X - the euro - you can try 3500 tick, 500 tick, 144 tick.(esignal) I gave up on tick charts a while back. Their are lies, damn lies and their are tick charts. Too many entries and it ain't "pure" like time based charts.
The whole point of tick/volume charts is to see a different perspective. The correct answer is NONE. lol, not pure, good one, almost had me going there for a sec.
A very very rough estimate is 6000 to 11,000v on YM will equate to 13 30min bars for a 6 & a half hour session.
I prefer constant volume charts over tick charts because Globex keeps changing how ticks are aggregated; therefore, IMHO constant volume charts are more consistant. See the following links for more info: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60786&highlight=cme+change+tick+aggregation http://forum.esignalcentral.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=79284#post79284 http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=60688
To a large extent you are correct - however, if you look at time frames longer than an hour tick/volume charts cannot show that same stuff that time charts show. When I said "pure" I meant that a trader can see momentum from a big picture perspective. I don't trade stock indexes but pull up a 3 hour chart on the S&P - it shows a BEAUTIFUL reverse Head and Shoulders formation (with a perfectly proportioned hammer at its apex) on Wednesday afternoon at 1254.30. Close of business on Friday it is 1280.16. Pull up ANY tick/volume chart with a large number that tries to replicate the 3 hour time frame and you will not get such clarity in the candlesticks. NO WAY DO YOU GET SUCH CLARITY WITH TICK CHARTS ON THIS TIME HORIZON. To get into such an uptrend - you can use anything you like (tick or time will yield similar results). The 100 tick on esignal had a beautiful reverse head and shoulders on Wednesday's close so yes they do work well together. If your getting in and out of positions regularly - tick may be better. If your looking for a good swing opportunity - time is best to see the big picture.
You might want to have a look at this old thread which discussed the merits of different charting types: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34084&highlight=tick
As my friend Richard Nixon is often quoted, "I'll say this about that" The example of some h&s that didn't show up on a tick chart is meaningless. Why? Who cares. I could show you any number of things that DO show up in tick / vol charts, that time based charts don't even come close to revealing. You don't hear much about it, probably because it has value, where the stuff thats pumped all over the place it basically worthless. Working stuff isn't talked about. Except by me, but I'm an iconoclast.