What an absolutely great thread. Very educational and no flaming. Refreshing. Cheese. I find these comments very interesting. I would very much appreciate it if you would give me your take on the relationship between YM and INDU ticks.
I've made some changes to the original page that started this thread so I'm referencing it here again. I've basically added the fact that range/momentum bars exist. Secondly, does anybody have 4 chart which show the same time period (say half a trading session) with each of the 4 different types of chart. I can add these to this page. [When I speak about 4 different types of charts I'm refering to 4 different "methods" of constructing a candle. I'm aware that kagi, point break etc. exist.] Or, does anybody know if esignal allows you to create momentum/range bars? I've taken a look at renko charts but they don't seem to be quite the same. Thanks
I've written a follow up article on this subject using last Friday's (10 Sep 2004) ES data. There is also an interesting (IMO) chart here that compares trades (ticks), volume and time at price using % to normalize the data into a comparable form. I've never seen a chart like this before so I'm not sure if anybody else has done this sort of analysis or if it's available anywhere else. If so, please can you post a link in this thread letting me know. TIA.
After further analysis I've come to the conclusion that tick charts are as good as volume charts and act as a good proxy for them. This is not my theoretical conclusion (which remains that tick charts can be manipulated) but my observation from collecting empirical data. It also makes sense from a practical point of comparing markets that don't have volume information or where the volume information is not comparable because 1 stock/contract is worth so much more than another.
The changes the the CME has made to the way it reports trades will affect tick charts but not volume or time based charts. I hope that everyone using tick based charts has made the required changes.
I wouldn't worry about it. The majority of these "players" will have washed out way before they figure out none of these gimmicks matter anyway. They're soon replaced by another continuous wave of hopeful wannabe's who'll tinker away for a few months while their accounts dwindle to $0 and on and on....
I fear that this is (very sadly) true. Here's a suggested (although possibly flawed) solution: Pass a law that states that when you open an account to day trade that you also spend the same amount as your initial year's account funding in education and exams to understand the market before you trade...
Why and what for? Make it harder than it already is to make a buck? If everyone were a good and "competent" trader, it would be CHOP alllllll day long. Things can't be that way. Index futures are essentially legalized gambling. For every 1 guy that does ok/well, there needs to be 5-10 who lose it. At least in "trading". I'm not necessarily talking about investing.
Interesting thread. Thanks a lot for this info . No need to fell sorry for people who loose money in markets. We all are grown ups and are responsible for our decisions.. Does anyone know if range bars are available in e-signal.
No eSignal don't do range bars. However you can use Esig data to construct range bars on other software like Ensign for eg.