Tick charts plot price based on the number of trades (ticks). A new bar (or candlestick, line section, etc.) is formed each time a specified number of trades is completed. For example, a 2d 133t bar chart plots the price action for two days, recording open, high, low, and close prices every time the number of trades becomes equal to 133.
Tick aggregation can be used on intraday charts with a maximum time interval of five days. You can use any number of ticks up to 100,000 as the aggregation period. A chart can initially load up to 40,000 bars. When the number of bars reaches 80,000, the chart resets to the last 40,000 bars for performance reasons.
Setting Up Chart Time Frame
Setting a chart time frame involves defining two things:
- Time interval: The time range for which the entire chart is plotted.
- Aggregation period: The period for which price data is accumulated for one bar, candle, line segment, etc. This aggregation period can be expressed in time units, ticks, or price range accumulation.
The Charts interface provides you with several standard time frames and you can also create your own. To set up a time frame:
- Access the configuration window using one of the following options:
- Click the Time Frame button (by default, Į).
- Click the ú Style button and select Time Frame Setup.
- Press Ctrl + T on your keyboard.
- Click the Time frame tab and select Tick as the aggregation type.
- Specify the Time interval using the dropdown menu. The time interval defines how much historical data is displayed on the chart. Available options range from Today and WTD (week to date) up to 5 days.
- Specify an Aggregation period using the dropdown menu or the slider. The aggregation period defines how many trades (ticks) are included in each bar. You can select a predefined value or enter a custom number, ranging from 1 tick up to 100,000 ticks.
- Optionally, click the ù icon in the bottom-left corner of the window to add your Time frame configuration to your Favorites list. To access this list, click the Time frame button and select the Favorites tab. You can customize your favorite time frames by clicking Customize list.
- Click OK to apply the selected time frame settings to the chart.