Measuring Bar Duration in Tick and Other Non-Time Charts

Summary

This note describes an indicator for measuring how long each bar takes to form in seconds. It is intended for charts whose bars are defined by activity or price movement rather than fixed time intervals, including tick, range, and Renko charts. The output can help traders gauge changes in market speed across bars.

The method converts each bar’s clock time into seconds since midnight, subtracts the previous bar’s time, and adjusts for a day rollover when the difference is negative. The document provides the calculation logic but no examples, empirical evaluation, or evidence that the measure improves trading decisions. It also does not discuss how to handle missing bars, time zones, or sessions with overnight breaks, so users should account for their data and market hours when interpreting the result.

Key ideas

• The indicator reports elapsed seconds between consecutive bars.
• It is designed for tick, range, Renko, and other non-time-based charts.
• The calculation converts clock readings to seconds and takes their difference.
• A negative difference is treated as a transition across midnight.
• The document provides no empirical validation or guidance for session breaks.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.