- Effective with the release of Version 12, this article is no longer applicable.
- Version 12 of Investor/RT expresses both Range Bars and Change Bars as the number of tick increments of range or change. Version 11 expresses range/change as the number of "prices" within the bar. The version 12 convention conforms to the way range bars are expressed in other widely used charting platforms so the transition is aimed a providing consistency for new users coming to Investor/RT from other platforms. 3rd party developers, educators, and consultants whose activities relate to the use of range bars and change bars will no longer have to cite Investor/RT as any exception to the norm.
In Investor/RT Version 11, Range Bars are built to span a number of prices not a range of ticks. Entering "3" as your desired Tick Range per bar will build range bars that span three prices. For example: 1250.25, 1250.50 and 1250.75. When price breaks out of the range of these three prices, a new bar is formed. It's important to note that a range bar that spans these three prices only creates a bar that is two ticks high. Therefore, if a user wants a true range of 3 ticks, he or she should specify a "4" as the Tick Range per bar.
Alternatively, users can specify the size of the range in a decimal format as opposed to a tick format. Specifying 1.00 as a range on an instrument with a .25 tick increment will build a chart with range bars that are 1.00 from top to bottom (4 x .25=1.00). Technically this method is spanning 5 prices but the range is only 4 ticks. Sometimes users prefer this secondary way to specify the range desired.
One of the main advantages of specifying a range in number of ticks versus decimal format, is that a chart that uses a number of ticks can be used with multiple instruments. For instance, a "4" tick range chart of the ES (which has a tick increment of .25) can also be used on Crude (which has a tick increment of .01). The ES chart will span 4 prices, for example: 1250.25, 1250.50, 1250.75 and 1251.00. Changing the instrument to Crude would result in a range that also spans 4 prices, for example:90.01, 90.02, 90.03 and 90.04.
With that in mind, designating a number of ticks has certain advantages over designating a price however if you want a range of a full 4 ticks (not 4 prices), you must enter a 5 as your Tick Range per Bar.