what's a tick ?

[tradr]

i read elsewhere that 1 tick = 1 trade, so a 50 tick chart's bar should complete
after the 50th tick, but the 50 tick 6E chart i've loaded when mouse wheel clicking
under a price bar shows various amounts none of which are 50, a couple show a
volume of 200

so what's a tick and what's the volume per bar referring to ?

second part of the question, with the Chart Trader displayed, Bid, Ask quantities
are displayed, as these change, are they trades at those Bid/Ask prices ?

[NinjaTrader_Ben]

Hello,

I suggest reading about it via an internet search. There is lots of educational information out there.

One tick is just a measure of movement...thats it.
Volume has to do with the number of contracts (participation) in the market.

This is the volumn at that price. It is called market dept.

[sabtrader]

FESX volume

I'd like to know what a tick is also.
I thought it meant the bid or ask had changed.

I'm using mirus Zenfire
tick charts work fine with FESX
but when i try to change the interval to a volume chart NT stops responding???

any suggestions welcome.
steve

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

You can review this link, a tick represents a trade - http://daytrading.about.com/od/daytr...TickCharts.htm

Which volume chart exactly are you trying to create? How many days back have you set it to?

[BT_Techsupport]

A tick is simply a change in price. When you look at a tick chart - say a 30-tick chart for arguments sake, each bar represents 30 'ticks' or 30 price changes in the market. An example: if the last price traded was 5137.0, the next price traded was 5137.5 and the subsequent price was 5138.0, that would represent 2 ticks (assuming your market was operating in 0.5 point increments). It is important to note that a tick chart bears no reference to time or volume at all. You will see on occasions if you run a tick chart alongside a minute chart - say a 75 tick chart alongside the Z 1 minute chart - it can sometimes take 5 minutes for one bar to form on the tick chart and other times, you might get 5 bars on the tick to one bar on the one minute chart. It all depends how long it takes for the market to complete 75 ticks (or whatever you have set) of price increments.

Hope this helps...

Pete

I'd like to know what a tick is also.
I thought it meant the bid or ask had changed.

I'm using mirus Zenfire
tick charts work fine with FESX
but when i try to change the interval to a volume chart NT stops responding???

any suggestions welcome.
steve

[sabtrader]

volume charts

Well my volume charts are now working for FESX.

Yes you are right BT
Bertrands link is just misinformation.
I guess if a tick was a trade there would be no need for volume charts right?
steve

[BT_Techsupport]

I don't know why, but I have never been able to change from one chart type to another. If you set up a minute chart, you can't change it to a tick or a volume chart etc and vice versa. You have to create a new chart for each type..

This is the text of the link Bertrand posted:

Charts based upon ticks make a new price bar (or candlestick, line, etc.) every time a specific number of trades are completed. Popular numbers of ticks are 33 ticks, 133 ticks, and 233 ticks, which are all short term timeframes. As tick based charts only make new bars when there have been enough trades, they adjust to the market, making bars less often when the market is moving slowly. Some day traders believe that this gives tick charts an advantage over time charts, but this really depends upon the trading system being used.

That would have to be one of the most bizarre explanations I think I have ever read of tick charts.... sorry, Bertrand but I have to agree with Steve!

Pete

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Great the charts work now for you - a tick is a trade, whatever size...volume charts or share charts will have a constant volume for each bar, thus it could be for example one bar is one trade if it was a 'large block one'.

[BT_Techsupport]

Actually, that description Bertrand posted the link too is partly correct - a tick chart does respond to the market (what chart doesn't??...) and the speed of the market does change the rate at which a tick chart forms, however that is as close as that explanation gets to the truth.

Proof: You can have 500 contracts traded at the one price and it will have no effect on a tick chart at all. If every one of those 500 contracts was traded at a different price, different story...

Pete

[VTtrader]

Bertrand is right, that a tick is a trade, it doesn't matter whether it was 1 contract or 50, or at the same price as the previous trade or a different price.

A simple test, make an indicator:
Print(Close[0]);
Print(Bars.TickCount);

Another simple test is pull up say a 10 tick chart and you will see bars with only 1 price. Attached are a couple pictures.

VT

[sabtrader]

Ticks

A tick, as in a tick chart, is sometimes a trade sometimes not.

Sometimes a new price quote arrives where the sales volume is zero and that's not a trade.
eg someone removes a limit order which was the best current bid or ask.
or
someone places a limit order inside the bid/ask.
or
someone joins the bid (no sale but the bid volume increases and another tick is generated)

steve

[BT_Techsupport]

Yes Steve is correct. A tick is just simply a price change which can occur as Steve has rightly pointed out without there having to be an actual trade completed. If a tick chart relied upon there being a trade in order for a tick to be generated, it would be a volume chart which clearly, it isn't.

If you were to give a tick chart a different name, perhaps it might be called a 'number of incremental price changes chart' - bit convoluted so let's stick to tick chart but let's not get carried away..

[VTtrader]

Steve,

Take a 1 tick chart of ES or something and make an indicator that says that says:
if (Volume[0] == 0)
{
Print(CurrentBar);
}
And check the output window and see how many bar numbers are printed, then change it to == 5 and check again. Changes in bid/ask are not reflected in tick charts, only trades.

VT

[VTtrader]

That's not right, a "trade" (or tick in a tick chart) can be 1 contract or it can be many contracts, but regardless of the number of contracts traded, it will count as 1 tick. A volume chart on the other hand will produce a new bar when a certain number of contracts have traded, whether that happens in 1 trade or many trades. For example, a bar on a 100 volume chart can be 1 trade of 100 contracts, or a 100 trades of 1 contract...or any other combination.

VT

[sabtrader]

tick

I stand corrected

i just pulled up a 1 tick futures chart and put the VOL indicator on it
and there are no ticks of zero volume.

my previous post might be true for FX

steve