Tick Volatility - What is the typical expectation

Hi,

Firstly, I am a programmer and not a trader. Have been modelling strategies and have a question about what to expect as I create a "Renko-Like" offline chart generator.

Using a 1 min chart is only an estimate of what to expect in real time with tickdata. So- I am getting excellent results while using 1 min histories as I create basket chart from 1 to 14 currencies.

1. News periods - would I expect to get a multitude of multiple-point ticks or a very fast sequence of ticks.
2. Other than news periods - how often do we have high volitility periods where ticks occur faster than an EA can process.

I have written a tool that gives me a very low rate of multi-point ticks but I am looking for insight into what happens over a long period of time.

Previous thread related to this topic:

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=359473

Assuming MT4 has not changed over the last several years with regards to how ticks are "processed", you will definitely miss ticks with MT4. Creating a renko-like offline chart of 14 symbols will miss many ticks. But it depends on the broker. From what I've seen, the frequency of ticks varies greatly among brokers. With some broker, you can get dozens of ticks per second per symbol during high volatility periods. And you can get multiple ticks for one symbol within milliseconds of each other.

But like I said, it depends on the broker. I think the best thing you can do is run some tests to determine the number of missed ticks for YOUR selected broker(s).

You did not mention what trading platform you are using...I'll assume MT4. I would strongly suggest finding a broker that offers FIX API so you will can be confident that you are receiving (and processing) all ticks available.