Tick charts: time doesn't matter, activity does

[Shadow Trader]

A standard chart prints a new candle every minute, whether anything happened or not. A tick chart prints a candle after a set number of price changes, such as 200 ticks. In busy times, candles form quickly. In quiet times, they form slowly.

The benefit for scalpers is that tick charts adjust to activity automatically. During the London open, the chart speeds up and shows detail. During the lunch lull, it slows down and filters noise.

It also reduces the visual illusion of calm that time charts create. A one-minute chart can show a flat candle during an hour when little traded, and a spike candle in a minute with a burst of activity. Tick charts normalise that.

Drawbacks: tick counts differ between brokers, so patterns don't translate perfectly. Indicators behave differently as well, since each bar covers a different time span. Backtesting needs tick-level data, which is heavier to handle.

Is a tick chart used alongside time charts, and what tick count seems to work best?