If you’re looking at your trading charts and you’re feeling like you’re just not “seeing” what is really happening, and the standard time-based charts feel a bit slow or clunky, then you need to check the tick charts (and declutter your charts too).

The time-based charts are great; they show you what happened every 60 seconds, but what about all the action in between? The tick charts are a way to visualize the raw buying and selling pressure as it happens, not just when a clock ticks over.

It may sound complex, but I’m here to simplify day trading for you. Let’s break it down together.

What on Earth is a Tick Chart, Anyway?

First things first. What is a “tick”?

A “tick” is simply a single transaction. Every time a stock or futures contract is bought or sold, that’s one tick.

Now, a standard time-based chart, like a 5-minute chart, doesn’t care how many trades happen. It will draw a new candlestick every five minutes, no matter if there were 10 trades or 10,000 trades in that period.

A tick chart is different.

Instead, the tick-based chart will draw a new candlestick (or a “bar” in most cases) every time a certain number of transactions happen.

For example, a “500-tick chart” will print a new candlestick after every 500 trades happen. If the market is super busy and 500 trades happen in 10 seconds, you get a new candle.

If things are slow and it takes two minutes to get 500 trades, you wait. The chart only moves when there’s real activity.

Benefits of Using Tick Charts

Great, we know what a tick chart is, but why, as a day trader, should I care about it? Simple… because a tick chart will give you an edge on seeing what is really going on.

Here are some benefits of using a tick chart:

Seeing the True Market Speed

Depending on your trading style or on what asset you are trading, I bet you have found those super slow charts where neither the volume nor the candle is giving you enough information. Using the tick chart helps you see the real market speed and volatility.

Why? A 1-minute time-based chart will print a new candlestick every single minute, whether there are 1 or 100 trades, while a 10-tick chart will create a new candlestick every 10 trades, regardless of whether 5 or 10 minutes have passed.

With the tick chart, you see the acceleration (lots of buying) and the deceleration (lots of selling) as it happens. This “market speed” is invaluable for understanding momentum.

Cutting Through the Noise of Time

If you have been long enough in the market, you already know that it’s not always busy, and the best example is how, between 12:00 pm and 1:00pm EST, it gets really quiet. A 1-minute (time-based) chat will show you 60 candles in one hour, but in most cases, those will be small with meaningless wicks and with very low volume.

Well, this is what most people call “noise”, and in worst cases, this noise can trick you into making a bad trade.

On the other hand, a 1000-tick chart, for example, will just slow down during those quiet periods. This means it might take 2 or 3 minutes to draw a new candlestick. The nature of drawing, based on the amount of trades instead of time, filters out the noise.

It lets you focus only on the moments when the market is truly active and making moves.

The Downsides of Tick Charts

While the tick charts are amazing, and my go-to, they are not perfect and have a couple of drawbacks you should know about.

They Can Be “Too Fast” in Slow Markets

In a very slow, choppy market, a low-tick chart can make a few random trades look like a big move.

This is why many traders use a longer-term time chart (like a 5-minute or 15-minute) to understand the bigger picture and then use the tick chart for their precise entries, which is the best approach for anyone starting with the tick charts.

They Ignore Overnight Gaps

Since ticks are based on transactions and not on time, the chart is completely inactive when the market is closed.

This means that if there’s a big news event that causes the price to gap up or down at the open, it will just appear as a huge jump on your tick chart with no history.

You need to be aware of this. Many traders who use the market opening start the day with a time-based chart and then change to a tick chart.

Tick Chart Use Cases and Scenarios

By now, you must be wondering what a tick chart is best used for, and the best part is that ALL the classic technical analysis you (might) already know can be used on a tick chart.

But here are some detailed use cases and scenarios for you to have a better picture:

Spotting Breakouts and Volume

One of the scenarios where trading with a tick chart comes in handy is during a “breakout”. On a time chart, those movements can sometimes look slower and gradual, while on a tick chart, you will see a series of very fast, consecutive candles in the direction of the breakout.

Those candlesticks are usually large and don’t have too much wick. Because each tick chart candle represents a fixed number of trades, the “size” of the candle becomes a proxy for volume.

This means that a huge green candle on a 500-tick chart means those 500 trades happened at rapidly increasing prices.

Finding the Support and Resistance

This is simple; there’s less noise, so it’s easier to spot key levels. Since the chart is not wasting time drawing candles during quiet periods, the levels where the price constantly hit are usually a lot clearer and more obvious.

You can see exactly where the big players are stepping in to defend a price level.

Navigating the News

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a “news trader”; you can ignore that some of them actually move the market, and you need to be prepared for that, and a tick chart, in my opinion, is better for that.

For example, on a 1-minute or 5-minute chart, the volatility is pure chaos during a news event, the price zigs and zags so violently that it’s nearly impossible to see any structure (which is one of the main reasons why most people stay out of news).

On the other hand, since the tick chart is measuring activity, not time, it reduces the noise. During a news event, a 2000-tick chart might form twenty bars in one minute, and then only two bars in the next minute as things calm down.

This helps you see the true direction of the trend, allowing you to place smarter, more confident trades.

Finding the Perfect Exit (Because Greed Kills Profits)

One of the hardest parts of trading is knowing when to get out. We all have been there, we all have seen a green candle turn red because we got too greedy.

Well, tick charts are phenomenal for fine-tuning your exit strategy.

While trading on a tick chart, you will notice when a trend is running out of momentum. The bars will start to get smaller, showing that the pressure is fading.

In many cases, the chart might start “churning,” moving sideways with a lot of back-and-forth without making new highs.

It helps you sell into strength, not panic.

Tick Charts vs. Time Charts: Which is Better for Day Trading?

So, we’ve got a lot covered, but when it’s time to decide which chart (tick-based or time-based) to use, most people freeze, and that’s normal.

And while the answer may not be as simple as just saying “this one”, it’s not that complicated. It all depends on what you are doing and your personal style.

Yeah, despite all the benefits, it all depends on personal preferences.

The Fundamental Difference

Let’s use an example… let’s say that you’re watching a busy coffee shop.

A time chart is like taking a picture of the shop every five minutes, no matter what. So:

• At 9:00, you see ten people in line.
• At 9:05, you see two people.
• At 9:10, you see fifteen.

Now, let’s say that a massive rush came and went between 9:00 and 9:05? Since your 9:00 photo shows ten people in line, and your 9:05 photo shows only 2, you completely missed what happened in between. You missed that massive rush between 9:00 and 9:05.

Time charts give you a steady, predictable snapshot, but they can completely smooth over activity in between.

A tick chart, on the other hand, doesn’t care about the clock. It only cares about action. In this case, it’s like taking a photo each time 10 customers enter the shop. If there’s a massive rush, you will be taking photos like crazy every 10 customers.

Taking the photo may take you 1 minute or 15 minutes until 10 customers enter the shop, but it doesn’t matter. The chart moves based purely on market activity, not the ticking clock.

See the difference? One is governed by time. The other is governed by trades.

So, which is better?

For most active day traders, especially those trading in the trenches and scalping for small moves, tick charts offer a significant advantage.

They align more closely with how the market actually behaves, they filter out the noise, and amplify the important moves.

But, there’s no “which is better?”. You need to test it.

To get a better idea, you can use both of them, like I mentioned before. Many successful traders don’t choose just one; they use a combination.

They might use a 15-minute time chart to identify the overall trend and key levels for the day, and then switch to a 500-tick chart to fine-tune their entries and exits.

Getting Started: Choosing Your “Tick Speed”

This is the million-dollar question: what tick number should you use? There’s no single “best” answer, as it depends on what you’re trading and how you trade. But here’s a simple way to think about it:

• Lower Tick Number (e.g., 133, 233, 333): These charts move very fast. They print new candles constantly, giving you an ultra-detailed, close-up view of the price action.
  • Great for scalpers who are in and out of trades in seconds or minutes.
  • Overwhelming for beginners.
• Medium Tick Number (e.g., 500, 750, 1000): This is the sweet spot for many day traders. It’s a perfect balance between detail and readability.
• Higher Tick Number (e.g., 1500, 2000+): These charts are much slower and smoother. They filter out even more noise and are better for traders who hold positions for a bit longer.

My advice for beginners? Start with a 500-tick chart or a 1000-tick chart. They are widely used, easy to read, and a fantastic starting point.

A Simple Tick Chart Trading Strategy for Beginners

Now, it’s time to try it out. Here’s a dead-simple way to start using tick charts today. Let’s use a 500-tick chart for this example.

Make sure you’re on a simulator or paper trading account before starting.

1. Identify the Trend: Is the market generally making higher highs and higher lows (uptrend) or lower highs and lower lows (downtrend)? Just look at the last 20-30 candles to get an idea.
2. Wait for a Pullback: In an uptrend, wait for the price to dip or “pull back”.
3. Look for the Bounce: Watch for a strong, large green (bullish) candle to form right off that support level on your tick chart.
4. Enter the Trade: Place a buy order just above that strong green candle.
5. Manage Your Risk: Always, always place a stop-loss order just below the support level you identified (or as your ratio says)

This strategy uses the core strength of the tick chart, showing you the exact moment of strong buying pressure, to find high-probability entry points.

Here’s a Useful Video

Details on the 2 Indicators I Use

So, after watching the video above, I think you understand that my approach to trading is simple when it comes to indicators and technical analysis, and also, you don’t really need a lot of indicators to be a profitable trader.

But I think a little bit more of an explanation of the two indicators I use will help you understand how I trade and also how you can use these indicators (and also choose ones you prefer to use) to set up trades.

1. EMA

The EMA stands for Exponential Moving Average. And in the chart above, you can see 3 EMA lines that represent 20, 52, and 135 periods.

So what does this mean?

First off, the EMA measures the trend of price movement over a period of time.

So, for the line that represents the 20 EMA, this shows the average price of the last 20 periods. The periods could be days, hours, minutes, or any period that you select as your EMA.

So the 52 EMA is the average price of the last 52 time periods (again, it could be minutes, hours, days, etc) and the 135 EMA shows the average price for the last 135 time periods.

So when the price is above the EMA line, this could indicate an uptrend, and likewise, if the price is below the EMA line, it could indicate movement to the downside.

You may have heard of EMA crossovers. This is used by traders to identify when there could be a change in the direction of price movement.

Usually, when the shorter-time period EMA crosses over a longer-time period EMA, this is considered bullish because it signals that the more recent price action is gaining momentum to the upside. In an example, it could be when the 20 EMA crosses over and above the 52 EMA.

A bearish crossover is the opposite of the longer-time period EMA line crossing below the shorter-time period EMA. As an example, this is when the 52 EMA crosses below the 135 EMA line.

2. MACD

This is a very popular indicator among traders, and it stands for Moving Average Convergence Divergence. The MACD is used to identify trends (in either direction) and changes in the direction of price action.

Basically, the MACD shows the strength in the market. The best signals are when the MACDs and price movement are in harmony, i.e, showing the same direction or trend.

In this case, this would be when the price is going up and the MACD is also showing strength.

The zero line is very important in reading the MACD. When the MACD is above the zero line and moving strongly above the zero line, this indicates strength in the market.

Conversely, when the MACD moves below the zero line, this would signal less strength in the market and potentially lower prices.

Conclusion

As you can see, trading with tick charts comes with a ton of benefits, but it won’t make you profit magically; you still need to put up the work. They help you see the market better, filter out noise, and spot momentum shifts faster than time-based charts.

Are they a foolproof solution? Of course not. No tool or indicator is. But by adding them to your toolkit, you’re giving yourself an advantage. You start trading based on market activity, the one thing that actually moves price, rather than the passing of time.

My suggestion? Don’t just throw out your old charts. Open up a new window on your trading platform. Set one chart to a 5-minute time frame and the other to a 500-tick chart. Watch them side-by-side for a week, and paper trade a lot. I bet you’ll start to see the differences right away.

FAQs

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Last Updated on March 11, 2026