NinjaTrader Bar Types Compared: Finding the Right Chart for Your Trading Style

Choosing the right bar type in NinjaTrader can be the difference between catching profitable moves and trading blind. While most traders default to standard time-based candlesticks, alternative bar types can filter noise, clarify trends, and improve timing precision.

This guide compares the most effective bar types available for NinjaTrader traders, including time-based bars, tick bars, volume bars, range bars, Renko bars, Delta bars, and the advanced time-limited Renko bars that are gaining popularity among serious traders.

Quick Comparison: NinjaTrader Bar Types at a Glance

1) Understanding Traditional Bar Types

1.1 Time-Based Bars (Candlesticks)

Time-based bars are the default in most trading platforms. Each bar represents a fixed period—1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour, etc.
Pros:

• Universal standard across platforms
• Easy to understand and interpret
• Works with all indicators
• Clear time reference for economic events

Cons:

• Displays all market noise equally
• Low-activity periods create misleading bars
• Can miss important moves between time intervals
• Often produces false breakout signals

Best for: Swing traders, position traders, and beginners learning technical analysis.

1.2 Tick Bars

Tick bars form after a specified number of transactions occur, regardless of time. A 144-tick bar completes after 144 trades execute.
Pros:

• Adjusts automatically to market activity
• More bars during volatile periods
• Fewer bars during slow periods
• Better reflects actual trading activity

Cons:

• No time reference
• Tick volume varies by contract and session
• Requires adjustment for different instruments
• Can still contain considerable noise

Best for: Day traders and scalpers in liquid markets who want activity-based charting.

1.3 Volume Bars

Volume bars form after a specified number of contracts trade. Similar to tick bars but based on contract volume rather than transaction count.
Pros:

• Activity-weighted bar formation
• Better representation of institutional participation
• Normalizes activity across sessions
• Works well for all trading styles

Cons:

• No time correlation
• Settings require optimization per instrument
• May still produce noisy charts in choppy conditions
• Large volume spikes can create very long bars

Best for: Traders who want to see when real money is moving markets, regardless of timeframe.

1.4 Range Bars

Range bars complete when price moves a specified distance, regardless of time or volume. Each bar has an identical high-low range.
Pros:

• Filters microstructure noise effectively
• Uniform bar size simplifies analysis
• Excellent for support/resistance identification
• Reduces false breakouts

Cons:

• Loses time reference completely
• During trending moves, bars form rapidly
• Sideways action produces few bars
• Indicator calculations may behave differently

Best for: Traders who prioritize clean price action over time-based analysis, especially when trading ranging or choppy markets.

2) Advanced Bar Types: Renko, Time-Limited Renko, and Delta

2.1 Traditional Renko Bars

Renko bars originated in Japan and ignore time completely. New bars form only when price moves a specified amount (brick size) from the previous bar’s close.
Pros:

• Eliminates time and volume noise entirely
• Crystal-clear trend visualization
• Reduces whipsaws and false signals
• Excellent for trend-following strategies

Cons:

• Can lag significantly during slow markets
• Bars may not form for extended periods
• No time reference for market events
• Gaps in bar formation can obscure intraday structure

Best for: Pure trend traders who want to ignore consolidation and focus only on directional moves.

2.2 Time-Limited Renko Bars: The Evolution of Renko

Time-limited Renko bars solve the biggest weakness of traditional Renko: the potential for bars to stall indefinitely during consolidation.

How They Work: These bars combine Renko’s noise-filtering benefits with a maximum time constraint. If price doesn’t move enough to form a new Renko brick within the specified time limit, the bar closes automatically—preventing dead periods on your chart.
Pros:

• Maintains Renko’s noise-filtering power
• Prevents chart stagnation during consolidation
• Provides regular bar formation for indicator calculations
• Better suited for time-sensitive trading decisions
• Keeps you aware of market structure even in slow conditions
• Helps identify when trends are losing momentum

Cons:

• Requires understanding of both Renko and time parameters
• Settings need adjustment per instrument and strategy
• More complex than standard time bars

Best for: Traders who want the clarity of Renko bars but need consistent bar formation for timing entries and exits. Ideal for day traders, scalpers, and anyone trading with stop-losses or time-based risk management.

Why Time-Limited Renko Bars Are Superior: Unlike traditional Renko that can leave you staring at an unchanged chart for minutes during consolidation, time-limited Renko bars keep your chart active and informative. This makes them particularly valuable when trading with indicators that require regular bar updates, or when you need to make time-sensitive decisions based on market structure.

Learn more about Time-Limited Renko Bars →

2.3 Delta Bars: Trading Supply and Demand Directly

Delta bars are formed based on cumulative delta—the running total of buying pressure minus selling pressure. Rather than using price, time, or volume, Delta bars respond to actual order flow imbalances.

How They Work: Each bar tracks the cumulative delta (buying volume minus selling volume). When the delta reaches specified trend or reversal thresholds, a new bar forms. This gives you a real-time picture of supply and demand dynamics.
Pros:

• Shows genuine buying and selling pressure
• Identifies institutional order flow
• Forms bars based on market participants’ actual actions
• Excellent for spotting absorption and exhaustion
• Can reveal hidden strength or weakness
• Provides early warning of trend changes

Cons:

• Requires understanding of order flow concepts
• Steeper learning curve than price-based bars
• Not suitable for all instruments (best with liquid futures)
• Settings optimization is critical

Best for: Advanced traders who use order flow analysis, tape reading, or footprint charts. Particularly powerful for futures traders reading market depth.

Why Delta Bars Provide an Edge: While price-based bars show what happened, Delta bars show why it happened. When you see a price move higher but the delta is negative, you know sellers are in control despite rising prices—a powerful divergence signal that other bar types cannot reveal.

Learn more about Delta Bars →

3) Choosing the Right Bar Type for Your Trading Style

3.1 For Scalpers and Day Traders

Recommended: Time-limited Renko bars or tick bars
Scalpers need rapid bar formation and noise filtering. Time-limited Renko bars provide the perfect balance—filtering out meaningless price fluctuations while ensuring bars form regularly enough to time entries precisely. Tick bars work well in highly liquid markets where constant activity produces smooth charts.

3.2 For Swing Traders

Recommended: Time-based bars or range bars
Swing traders benefit from time correlation for multi-day analysis. Standard time bars work well, but range bars can help filter intraday noise while maintaining longer-term structure visibility.

3.3 For Trend Followers

Recommended: Traditional Renko bars or time-limited Renko bars
Both Renko variations excel at showing clean trends. Traditional Renko works for position traders who can tolerate gaps in bar formation. Time-limited Renko suits active trend traders who want continuous chart updates.

3.4 For Order Flow Traders

Recommended: Delta bars
If you trade based on buying and selling pressure, Delta bars are essential. They turn invisible order flow into visible chart structure, giving you a significant informational advantage.

3.5 For Multi-Timeframe Analysis

Recommended: Volume bars or time-based bars
Volume bars normalize activity across different sessions, making them excellent for comparing morning vs. afternoon trading patterns. Time bars remain the standard for multi-timeframe analysis due to universal compatibility.

4) How to Implement Alternative Bar Types in NinjaTrader

Most alternative bar types are available in NinjaTrader through the Data Series menu:

1. Open a chart in NinjaTrader
2. Right-click and select “Data Series”
3. Choose your desired bar type from the “Type” dropdown
4. Configure the parameters for your instrument and strategy
5. Apply and save the configuration

For specialized bar types like Delta bars and time-limited Renko bars, you’ll need dedicated add-ons that extend NinjaTrader’s native capabilities with advanced logic and customizable parameters.

5) Common Mistakes When Switching Bar Types

5.1 Using the Same Settings Across Different Instruments

Each market has different volatility and activity levels. A 4-tick Renko brick that works for ES futures will be completely wrong for crude oil.

5.2 Ignoring Your Trading Timeframe

Scalpers need fast bar formation; swing traders need structural clarity. Match the bar type’s characteristics to your holding period.

5.3 Over-Optimizing

Don’t spend weeks tweaking bar settings. Start with standard configurations and adjust only if you see clear improvement needs.

5.4 Abandoning Time Awareness

Even when using non-time-based bars, stay aware of economic releases, session opens/closes, and market structure events that occur at specific times.

5.5 Not Adapting Indicators

Some indicators work poorly on non-time-based bars. Test your indicators on new bar types before trading live.

6) Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Can I use multiple bar types simultaneously?

Yes. NinjaTrader allows multiple chart windows, each with different bar types. Many traders use time-based bars for overall structure and alternative bar types for entry timing.

Q2: Do alternative bar types work with all indicators?

Most indicators work, but some (especially time-based indicators like VWAP) may produce unexpected results on non-time-based bars. Always test before trading.

Q3: Are Renko bars better than candlesticks?

Neither is inherently better—they serve different purposes. Renko filters noise better; candlesticks provide time reference and universal compatibility. The best choice depends on your strategy.

Q4: What’s the difference between tick bars and volume bars?

Tick bars count transactions; volume bars count contracts traded. A single transaction can involve multiple contracts, so volume bars often form differently than tick bars.

Q5: How do I know which bar settings to use?

Start with standard settings recommended for your instrument, then adjust based on your strategy’s requirements. For day trading, you want enough bars to show intraday structure but not so many that noise reappears.

Q6: Can I backtest strategies on alternative bar types?

Yes, NinjaTrader supports backtesting on all bar types. However, historical data quality matters—ensure your data provider supplies tick-level data for accurate alternative bar construction.

Q7: What are Delta bars and how do they work?

Delta bars form based on cumulative delta—the running total of buying volume minus selling volume. They show actual order flow imbalances rather than just price movement, revealing the “why” behind price action.

Q8: Why would I use time-limited Renko bars instead of regular Renko?

Time-limited Renko bars prevent your chart from stalling during consolidation periods. They maintain Renko’s noise-filtering benefits while ensuring bars form at regular intervals, which is crucial for indicators and time-sensitive trading decisions.

7) Conclusion: Match Your Bar Type to Your Trading Edge

There’s no universal “best” bar type in NinjaTrader. The right choice depends on your strategy, timeframe, and the specific edge you’re exploiting.

For most traders, experimenting with alternative bar types reveals opportunities that traditional time-based bars obscure. Time-limited Renko bars offer an exceptional balance of noise reduction and consistent bar formation, making them ideal for active traders who want clarity without sacrificing timing precision. Delta bars provide unmatched insight into order flow dynamics for those willing to master their complexity.

The key is understanding what each bar type reveals—and what it hides. By matching your bar type to your trading approach, you’ll see the market more clearly and trade with greater confidence.
Ready to upgrade your charts? Explore advanced bar types that can transform your trading clarity and decision-making speed.