Going back to the OP, I've decided to expand my charts and smallest tf watched from a 1m, to include a small tick chart, currently 144t, on CL. This was based on the type of moves CL can put in within a 1m candle, ie 300 ticks straight down in seconds, as we saw this week. When this happens and the 1m candle is forming, it gives no information, just simply continues 'growing'. The tick chart does better and clearly shows the action within the 1m candle, you can see moves, patterns, retracements, etc, and it looks clean. This could be useful for deciding where to trail stops behind price action, ie lower highs in a drop, etc.

josh 

For those of you who voted "tick chart," why would you use a tick chart instead of a volume chart? Number of transactions matters more to you than volume traded?

Best reason I can think of to use tick charts is the DOM moves in ticks, not volume, not time and not range. If you view a chart as an extension and record of the DOM, then tick charts are the best fit.

At the moment I prefer tick charts for spot currency because for me tick bars encapsulate interest (activity) independent of time. Like all bars OHLC varies with price, but the rate at which bars move across the chart tells me something about participation rather than something about the passage of time (I have a clock for that). IMO it's a better estimation of momentum (change of price/ participation vs change of price / time) when volume is unknown.

I prefer:

- minutes to plot s/r lines (easier to see what s/r is holding)
- "exotic" renkos for defining long term trend (easier for me to see the trend on this type of bars than the others)
- range bars for entering my trades (I get better fills and can read market sentiment easier)

I can't use, consistently, volume or tick charts for some reason, but the above combination of the three charts has proven very successful for me. I also watch volume on the minute charts so I am not trading when the market obviously doesn't have any liquidity.

rickey 

Best reason I can think of to use tick charts is the DOM moves in ticks, not volume, not time and not range. If you view a chart as an extension and record of the DOM, then tick charts are the best fit.

In the portion of your reply I quoted above, you seem to be equating a "tick" with "minimum price fluctuation." However, this is a different definition than what a "tick chart" uses, which is "transaction."

A couple of years ago the CME changed the way it reports transactions for many products. The question is, "what is a transaction?" Well, previously if someone sold 100 at market, that was considered one transaction, one "tick" in your tick chart. However, currently if the 100 sold at market is matched with 50 2-lot bids, this is reported as 50 ticks. What is constant between the two scenarios is that 100 contracts traded. Regardless of "intent" (previously the initiator's intent was reported, but now it's more granular) volume traded is always the same. I do like to have a visual of a very large burst of volume that may not necessarily be accompanied by a large number of trades, and a volume chart will show you this, while a tick chart will not.

In practice, the "shape" of a tick and volume chart will tend to be quite similar (if the volume bar period is a multiple of the tick bar period and average volume per tick). So what we are having a friendly discussion about here is largely academic, because it likely won't make that much difference either way, but it is interesting to know the differences.

josh 

A couple of years ago the CME changed the way it reports transactions for many products. The question is, "what is a transaction?" Well, previously if someone sold 100 at market, that was considered one transaction, one "tick" in your tick chart. However, currently if the 100 sold at market is matched with 50 2-lot bids, this is reported as 50 ticks. What is constant between the two scenarios is that 100 contracts traded. Regardless of "intent" (previously the initiator's intent was reported, but now it's more granular) volume traded is always the same. I do like to have a visual of a very large burst of volume that may not necessarily be accompanied by a large number of trades, and a volume chart will show you this, while a tick chart will not. In practice, the "shape" of a tick and volume chart will tend to be quite similar (if the volume bar period is a multiple of the tick bar period and average volume per tick). So what we are having a friendly discussion about here is largely academic, because it likely won't make that much difference either way, but it is interesting to know the differences.

Great insight here....just trying to learn as I've never used volume charts, could you please explain how a volume chart will show a burst of volume while a tick chart won't?

Also how does the volume chart compare to using a 1m time chart with a volume subgraph for having a visual of large bursts of volume?

Futures Operator 

Great insight here....just trying to learn as I've never used volume charts, could you please explain how a volume chart will show a burst of volume while a tick chart won't?

A volume chart will print more bars, whereas a tick chart will not necessarily do so.

Futures Operator 

Also how does the volume chart compare to using a 1m time chart with a volume subgraph for having a visual of large bursts of volume?

I use a time-based histogram on my volume chart to show volume per time, just as one would see on a 1m. I find it very useful in quantifying volume while looking at the extra prints on the volume chart. Put a 1m and a volume chart side-by-side and compare for yourself, see what you like and don't like.

Big Mike 

I can't believe no one selected Renko since almost everyone I see posting charts in their journal is using some exotic Renko type bar type. Mike

I use tick,vol,hybrid and switch up occasionally to not get bored...I do not use time bc same reason Mike gave trading 24/7 time isnt a accurate read, or at least IMO. I have targets and no longer trade off of candles themselves although I do pay attention to the form,shape that the candles generate in a move ie. support/res areas

josh 

I use a time-based histogram on my volume chart to show volume per time, just as one would see on a 1m. I find it very useful in quantifying volume while looking at the extra prints on the volume chart.

Interesting idea. How do you set this up? Could you please share a picture?

Futures Operator 

Interesting idea. How do you set this up? Could you please share a picture?

@josh, if you find time, would love to see a snapshot.