Quote shimmer is a feed artifact, not activity

[Shadow Trader]

Sometimes a bid and ask start flickering rapidly, flipping between two values many times per second without a trade in sight. The chart shows nothing; the tick counter races.

Often this is a feed artifact. Two liquidity providers update at slightly different values, and the aggregated quote alternates between them. It's a sign that the book is indecisive, not that anyone is trading.

It can also come from algorithms testing the market. Small quote changes sent and cancelled in microseconds, probing for hidden liquidity. The retail feed shows a diluted version.

What matters for scalpers is what it does to tick-based indicators. A volume bar based on tick count jumps during flicker, giving a false sense of activity. A tick-chart with a fixed number of ticks per bar will paint bars rapidly with almost no price change.

Filtering by price change rather than by tick count removes most of the noise. A bar that closes only after a minimum movement of 0.5 pips ignores the flicker entirely.

Does the platform used here offer a tick filter, or does the flicker pass straight through to the indicators?