MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) stand as the world’s premier trading platforms, cherished by traders for market analysis and trade execution. They excel in showcasing historical price data across varied timeframes, helping traders dissect price movements across diverse durations.
MT4 offers timeframes such as M1, M5, M15 for short-term, M30 and H1 for medium-term, and H4, D1, W1, and MN for long-term analysis. In contrast, MT5 provides an even broader spectrum: short-term ranges from M1 to M30, medium-term includes H1 to H8, and long-term remains D1, W1, and MN. Moreover, MT5 has unique additions like the H12 time frame and enhanced customizability.
What Platforms Have Less than 1 Min Charts Time-Frames?
To use seconds chart timeframes, you can try platforms such as MetaTrader 5, SierraChart, CQG, TradeStation, Tradingview Pro, Zero Pro, NinjaTrader, etc. Except for MT5, all these platforms offer prebuild features to choose 1-second, 3-second, 5-second, etc. chart timeframes.
In MetaTrader 5 (MT5), by default, charts with second time-frames aren’t available. However, traders have found ways around this limitation by using Expert Advisors (EAs). An EA, in this context, is a unique script designed to perform tasks on the platform without manual intervention, and in the case of enabling seconds chart trading, its task is to create custom charts based on seconds.
A trader would typically install an EA designed explicitly to enable this functionality. Once installed and executed, this EA takes price data from the shortest available time frame (usually the M1 or 1-minute chart) and breaks it into seconds, creating a new custom chart displaying price movements in seconds intervals.
For instance, an EA named “Candle by seconds” might generate a chart with a 10-second time frame, a 30-second time frame, or any other specified interval in seconds. This offers traders a much more granular view of price movements, which can be critical for high-frequency trading strategies or scrutiny of very short-term market behaviors.
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Many modern trading platforms have recognized the importance of providing traders with granular data for in-depth market analysis. In this context, viewing charts in second intervals can be crucial for high-frequency traders and those who wish to scrutinize short-term market movements closely.
Metatrader 5 (MT5) is one of the platforms where you need additional tools, like an Expert Advisor, to view seconds-based charts. On the other hand, platforms like MedvedTrader, TradeStation, Tradingview Pro, Zero Pro, NinjaTrader, and others have incorporated the feature natively. In these platforms, users can select the desired second-based time frame from the available options, such as 1-second, 3-second, 5-second, and so on, without needing custom scripts or tools.
These prebuilt functionalities demonstrate how platforms are evolving to meet traders’ demands, making it easier and more intuitive for users to access and analyze the information they need. Such built-in features simplify the user experience and reduce the time and effort required to set up specific chart views.
SierraChart Miliseconds TimeFrame
Sierra Chart is a trading platform that offers a feature allowing users to specify the frequency at which chart data updates. This is called the “Chart Update Interval,” and it can be set in milliseconds. Here’s how this feature works and why it’s significant for trading:
- Setting Chart Update Interval: Within Sierra Chart, you can set the update frequency of each chart individually by navigating to “Chart >> Chart Settings >> Display >> Chart Update Interval menu.” This setting specifies how often the chart data refreshes, with the time specified in milliseconds (ms).
- Chart-Specific vs. Global Settings: The platform allows users to customize the update interval chart-by-chart. This chart-specific setting overrides the global Chart Update Interval under “Global Settings >> General Settings.” This flexibility is crucial for traders needing different update speeds for charts, depending on the trading strategy and the nature of the instruments being traded.
- Impact of the Setting Value:
- Nonzero Value: If you set a specific chart’s update interval to a nonzero value, that chart will update at the interval specified, independent of the global settings.
- Zero Value: If the chart update interval is set to 0, it defaults to the global Chart Update Interval setting.
- Valid Range: The valid range for the Chart Update Interval is from 10 ms to 600,000 ms (10 milliseconds to 10 minutes). Setting the interval outside this range defaults the setting back to 0, which means the global setting will be applied.
- Usage Recommendations: It is advised not to set a very short Chart Update Interval globally because frequent updates across all charts can be resource-intensive and unnecessary. Instead, it’s recommended to apply shorter update intervals only to those charts or Trading DOMs (Depth of Market) that require rapid data refresh for effective trading decisions.
- Advantages for Traders:
- Precision: Millisecond-level settings allow traders to see price updates almost in real-time, which is crucial for high-frequency trading strategies.
- Efficiency: Traders can optimize their trading setup’s performance by reducing the system load where high-frequency updates are not necessary.
- Customization: This feature supports tailored trading strategies that depend on quick data updates for specific instruments, while other charts can be set to update less frequently.
He is an expert in financial niche, long-term trading, and weekly technical levels.
The primary field of Igor's research is the application of machine learning in algorithmic trading.
Education: Computer Engineering and Ph.D. in machine learning.
Igor regularly publishes trading-related videos on the Fxigor Youtube channel.
To contact Igor write on:
igor@forex.in.rs
