Tick charts: when the clock stops mattering

[Amanhasnoname]

A tick chart builds a new bar after a fixed number of price updates. Say, 100 ticks per bar. When the market is busy, bars come quickly. When it's quiet, they take a long time.

That adapts the chart to activity. Busy periods get more detail, and dead periods get compressed. For scalpers, it avoids the problem of one-minute candles that look the same whether the minute was frantic or empty.

It also gives a more consistent statistical behaviour. Returns per bar tend to be more uniform than returns per minute, which helps indicators work more evenly.

Downsides include inconsistency between brokers, since tick counts depend on the feed. A 100-tick bar on one platform isn't the same as on another. History is also limited, because platforms store only recent ticks.

If a strategy depends on time, such as session opens, tick charts are harder to use.

Many scalpers use a tick chart as a second view next to a time chart. Using both gives a sense of pace and structure together.

Do you use tick-based bars, and which size works for you?