Forex and tick charts/volume charts - does it make sense?

Hi,

I have a question: does anybody here think that Forex tick charts (or volume charts) make any sense? I would guess that tick charts on FX offered by different brokers look very different (Honestly, I havent checked!).

My point is that it is an OTC market, where noone has a complete list of trades to go by to generate the charts. If you eg. were to make a volume chart on Deutsche Bank’s volumes, which are much bigger than anyone elses, then that chart would look extremely different to a smaller brokers charts - probably the same for tick charts.

Your view? Who trades off of tick charts?

You are correct. Theoretically for different brokers it is impossible to have all ticks perfectly synced. Especially when we’re talking about retail brokers. But, if you trade with an ECN, Reuters or Currenex fed broker, you shouldn’t be having too much of a difference. Though, it is very likely that you’d be some ticks off the beat.

I know a guy who trades with tick charts. Actually they are very interesting if you really take a look at them.
For example, you were to setup a chart with 133 ticks. It is time unbound, meaning that in a wild situation you could have more than 50 candles in less than a minute. You could see more clearly who’s in control of the move. Whereas for a time chart, you’d always have to wait for a candle to close and see if it’s a bull or a bear candle.

Likewise, on a lazy day, you could have one candle filled in 5.5 hours.

I personally never traded with tick charts, but I remember I’ve actually seen people having systems that are based on tick charts.