Tick charts can print as to number of contracts traded or number of transactions traded regardless of size. Not much difference as to patterning.
in another thread Baron gave a reference that 'scalping' came from the pits where traders can lean on a big order. in the electronic world, there is HFT that requires the most sophisticated infrastructure... the algo is very simple, but you need the fastest chips running closest to the exchanges. this leads to the logical conclusion that a retail guying trying to 'scalp' for 2 ticks from his basement has zero chance of success... and anecdotal evidence supports that. Now I do know people who go for a few ES/NQ points and trades a couple dozen times a day... that's not exactly scalping though.
I scalp for ticks, and there is absolutely no need for charts. In fact, if I would use them (alot) they would do more harm than good. They put the focus on the past, which distracts you from the here and now. The here and now is best represented by a simple depth of market and something that shows you what is actually being traded RIGHT NOW. This can be an ordinary TnS or another simple tool like a cumulated volume column in your DOM. Once you start to really focus on the depth of market and what it represents you will make tremendous progress. You will start to see and feel its interaction with the TnS, the interaction between resting orders and was is actually traded. You will feel absorption, building support and resistance, long before you could recognize it on a chart. You will feel and understand the fine nuances of the market before a real breakout and a fake/ failed breakout. You will recognize the micro sentiment of the market by effects like for example the speed, the frequency of trades going through. All these fine nuances together give you a chance to be ahead of the crowd, if you are willing to put in the work to aquire these skills and then put them to work the right way. It is my experience that each short term trader has to go on his own journey to discover what he can and wants to discover by himself. Many of these nuances mentioned above are so subtle and interconnected, that it makes it very hard to explain and teach to others. Thats why I agree very much with the concept how some of the better prop firms build their traders: give them the tools, put them through drills, make them interact with the market. But what they learn during this interaction, how they perceive the market action, this is very individual, and each of them has to make his own experience and in consequence build his own trading style.
Lots of firms have access to DOM. They use algos that look at multiple market DOMS to trade a single market. What competitive advantage does a human have against these? Is it some discretionary intuition of market sentiment ?
Call, My ultimate goal is to do what you do. I am playing with charts to keep me observing the DOM. You are a very giving person and I know you would try to show me...but it is just not possible..it just screen time on my part...One day it will hit me when I recognize what I am not seeing now. ES