Hi guys - I've been studying different forms of trading for years while doing other things (sound familiar anyone?), and I'm close to getting down to it full time for real. I've gradually sorted out and integrated a bunch of methods from the good, bad, and plain suicidal I've seen. My preferences come down to discretionary Forex day trading/scalping methods using almost naked NinjaTrader charts and the NT Chart Trader for entries, with adaptive position sizing for money management.

So there I was, set to start a couple of months full time trade exercises and simulation. Then I came across some info on Renko on this Forum, and I'm hooked. Renko looks great to me as at least an additional tool for looking at price action, and I'd like to integrate it into the methods I have lined up. I looked for info on how to use it in practise, rather than in theory, and I find info on that is still pretty thin and sometimes conflicting. I've started this thread in the hope that some of you more experienced traders who use Renko as an aide or even your main tool in real trading might share your knowledge with us Renko rookies.

So, first off, which version of Renko to trade? I've seen basically three main variations on Renko (the following charts are not of the same instrument or time):

1. Plain Vanilla Renko (image below from https://www.prorealtime.com/ charting)




2. Renko with additional Highs and Lows info and variations on bar spacing, e.g nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) forum user 'monpere' UniRenko chart below:




3. 'Renko Brick' construction overlaid on time charts - e.g. Jide Ojo's Renko Brick method, and the shot below from user RMM99's old post here in thread

Renko To any and all who share an interest in Renko chart trading, I have, at the suggestion of several other forum members, created this thread. I tried posting an annotated screenshot of the last 2 trading days (Fri 6/19 & today, 6/22/09), but for some reason, …

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I've also seen versions of the above with transparent Renko brickes overlaid on candle charts so all the candle info is visible (often manually constructed?), and I think there may be a version of this coded as an NT Strategy - anyone know?

There are threads on nexusfi.com (formerly BMT) which have lots of info on the technicalities of Renko construction and coding, but I'd be very grateful if anyone can give us the benefit of your hands-on experience of trading Renko charts for real. I'm sure Renko rookies like me would be interested in things like - do you use it standalone or alongside candle/time/tick/whatever charts? What settings work for you? Which type of Renko do you find most suitable for what styles of trading (scalp, swing, position)? Practical differences between different types of Renko charts for real trading?... and so on.

I'm aware someone might say "Go read the book!"- but I'm posting this because so far as I can discover there isn't one that goes much beyond basic Renko chart construction. I'm hoping we might kind of write a basic one here over time

Max

The difference between bar types is simply how they filter "noise". Range bars have a maximum reversal size of 1:1. Renkohybrid/median renko bars have a minimum reversal size of 1.5:1. Regular renko bars have a minimum reversal size of 2.0:1. If you take a given chart and change the settings until they all give approximately the same number of bars and zoom out, the charts will look pretty much the same.

vegasfoster 

Regular renko bars have a minimum reversal size of 2.0:1.

Thanks vegasfoster. Now, this usefully brings up a basic point of confusion I've noticed in Renko discussions and definitions. On this page QuoteTracker it says this:

Quoting 

Renko (from Japanese "renga"="brick") charts are similar to Point and Figure charts, with a fixed reversal size of 1

Unless quotetracker's info above is just plain wrong, I assume there's some difference in definition of 'reversal size' here - can someone explain that please?

Vegasfoster tells us that if we adjust the settings until they give approximately the same numbers of bars, they will look pretty much the same zoomed out (except Renco type 3 in my post 2 below will vary in width because they are overlaid on charts). However, zoomed in, some Renko charts will have high and low price info visible, some won't, and some will have time info and price movement over time visible.

I'd appreciate some info on which of these forms of Renko you use for real trading, guys, and why you chose that one?

Max

Max