Suggestion re equidistant bar spacing

[MikeInMA]

As far as I can tell, a V7 multi-series chart will always have the chart's Equidistant bar spacing property permanently set to false. However, I think there are special cases where this is unnecessary, and I'd like to suggest you handle those cases.

The simplest example is a chart where all instruments use the same minute-based period. Consider these charts:



The first is a single-instrument 5-minute RTH chart with Equidistant bar spacing true, for the time period that includes Thanksgiving. Compare that to the second case, which is the same chart (shifted slightly) but with a second 5-min RTH chart added. Now a whole bunch of blank space appears. But why? The bar times must be the same for both instruments. It certainly seems the blank space could be removed any time there's no data from either instrument.

One other case I'm aware of is a multi-series chart where only a single instrument is used, every data series is volume-based or every data series is tick-based, and every period is an even multiple of some root period. For example, why can't I combine an ES 1000-volume chart with an ES 3000-volume chart and get equidistant spacing, since every three 1000-volume bars will align with a single 3000-volume bar? And even if I combined an ES 2000-volume chart with an ES 3000-volume chart, it still seems that equidistant spacing should be possible.

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello MikeInMA,

Thank you for your post.

I see your point when plotting multiple data series & the blank area on the chart with the equidistant bar spacing applied. I will forward the item to our Development Department.

The volume bars would not necessarily always line up. Volume bars are based on tick data which has a time stamp associated with it. Therefore even though 1,000 volume bars have the same number of contracts/shares/etc. the timestamps would not be identical.

[MikeInMA]

Could you explain more about how it is that the volume bars might not line up? I'm looking at it this way: If we start with a 3000-volume chart like I used in my example, there will be a time stamp that indicates when the 3000th contract traded, and that will be the time stamp of one 3000-contract bar. Then if we drill into that bar, we can divide it into three groups of 1000 contracts each. Now there will be three time stamps, one for the 1000th contract, one for the 2000th contract and one for the 3000th contract, and three 1000-contract bars can be constructed that have those time stamps. But isn't the time stamp of the 3000th contract independent of whether it's the third 1000-contract bar or the first 3000-contract bar? So it sure seems that the third 1000-contract bar and the first 3000-contract bar would line up.

(As an aside, I'd like to add that TickQuest's NeoTicker charting package does a great job producing multi-series volume charts with equidistant spacing. They actually require that higher-period series be an integral multiple of the lowest-period series, so in that sense their capability is less robust than NinjaTrader. But the bars on their charts do line up....)

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello MikeInMA,

The time stamp accompanies the individual ticks that are then aggregated into the custom volume count/bars you specify. These individual ticks will vary between contracts so they would not line up precisely. The differences increase as higher & higher granularity is accessed.

For more detail on how NinjaTrader builds charts, please reference the following:

http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/HelpGuideV6/helpguide.html?HowDoesNinjaTraderBuildChartBars

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

[MikeInMA]

My original post specified a single instrument being used in the volume case, and my example was a 1000-volume ES chart combined with a 3000-volume ES chart. Surely the time stamp on the 3000th ES contract at the end of the third 1000-volume bar will be identical to the time stamp on the 3000th ES contract at the end of the first 3000-volume bar! So those bars would align, right?

[NinjaTrader_Brett]

Hello,

This is Brett following up for chip.

I read through your logic and and I do not see any errors in your logic when the same instrument is used.

As far as your inital post this is a current limitation at this time. We had do disable the feature for all multi series charts for the option to enable equidistant bar spacing. However it is on developments list to look into.

Thanks for posting.

[MikeInMA]

I know it's a current limitation. That's why we're here in the Suggestions forum.

Anyway, the point is that I think there's a finite number of cases where Equidistant bar spacing would be possible even in a multi-series chart, and I don't think it's a very large number, either. I think it would be great if those cases were identified and supported.

[NinjaTrader_Chip]

Hello MikeInMA,

Just to clarify for your previous post, the time stamp item should have been understood to refer to the ES versus NQ having different time stamps (from the screenshot you provided initially).

[MikeInMA]

My original post discussed two cases, though I only provided screen shots for one of them. The case with screen shots was different instruments but with compatible times, like a 5-min ES chart combined with a 5-min NQ chart. The case without screen shots referenced a single instrument with compatible tick or volume periods, such as a 1000-volume ES chart combined with a 3000-volume ES chart. I believe these are cases where it should be possible to have equidistant bar spacing.

There are nuances. The templates have to be compatible, for example. (All bets are off if you combine a 1000-volume ETH chart with a 3000-volume RTH chart.) But I still think the valid cases could be reliably detected; and having the ability to get rid of unnecessary blank space in multi-series charts would be very helpful.