Change Chart Timeframe & Interval in Tradovate
Your timeframe decides what the market actually looks like to you. Here's exactly where to click and how to set up the interval you actually trade on, minute presets, custom minutes, tick, volume, range, and second bars.
Your timeframe decides what the market actually looks like to you. A 1-minute chart is all noise and quick scalps; a 60-minute chart smooths that out and shows the bigger swing. Tradovate lets you flip between them in a couple of clicks, and it goes well past the usual minute presets, you can build tick, volume, range, and second-based bars too. Here's exactly where to click and how to set up the interval you actually trade on.
Where the Interval Control Lives
Every chart in Tradovate carries a small toolbar that only shows up when your cursor is over the chart. Hover over the Chart module and a row of icons appears along the top. The interval control sits near the left of that row, it usually displays your current setting (something like 5m or 1H), so you can read your active timeframe at a glance before you change anything.
One thing worth getting straight up front: the interval button and the chart style button are two different things. Interval controls the time or size of each bar. Chart style controls how each bar is drawn, candles, bars, line, and so on. This guide is about the interval.
How to Change Your Chart Timeframe
Open a Chart and Reveal the Toolbar
Open the Chart module for the contract you're watching, then move your mouse over the chart area. The toolbar fades in across the top. If you don't see it, your cursor probably drifted off the chart, hover back over the price panel and it returns.
Open the Interval Dropdown
Click the interval control near the top-left of the toolbar, the one showing your current interval. That opens the Interval dropdown, which is where every timeframe option lives: the minute presets, the custom builders, and any recent intervals you've used.
Pick a Preset Minute Interval
For most traders the presets are enough. Tradovate gives you 1, 5, 15, 30, and 60-minute bars right in the dropdown. Click one and the chart redraws immediately, no save button, no confirmation. Scalpers usually park on 1 or 5 minutes; if you're swing-reading intraday structure, 15 or 60 gives you cleaner bars.
Build a Custom Minute Interval
Need something the presets skip, a 2-minute, a 3-minute, a 4-hour? Choose the Custom Time option and type the minute value you want. A 240-minute chart, for example, gives you a 4-hour bar. Once you've used a custom timeframe, it gets saved to the bottom of the Interval dropdown under your recent timeframes, so you can jump back to it without retyping.
Switch to Tick, Volume, Range, or Second Bars
Time isn't the only way to build a bar. Pick one of the non-minute interval types, Tick, Volume, Range, or Second, and a small pop-up asks how much each bar should represent. Enter a number and confirm. A 500-tick bar closes every 500 trades; a range bar closes after price moves a set number of ticks; a volume bar closes after a set number of contracts change hands. These strip the clock out of the picture and let activity, not time, drive when a new bar prints.
Interval Types at a Glance
| Interval type | What closes a bar | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Minute (presets) | A fixed number of minutes (1, 5, 15, 30, 60) | Everyday intraday trading |
| Custom Time | Any minute value you type (e.g. 2, 3, 240) | Timeframes the presets skip |
| Tick | A set number of trades | Reading fast order flow |
| Volume | A set number of contracts traded | Activity-based bars |
| Range | A set price move in ticks | Filtering out chop |
| Second | A set number of seconds | Sub-minute scalping |
A Few Things Worth Knowing
The interval you set applies to that one chart. If you want to watch the same contract on two timeframes at once, say a 5-minute for entries and a 60-minute for context, open a second Chart module and set each one separately. They don't fight each other.
How far back the history loads on very low timeframes depends on your market-data setup, which varies by account and firm, check your firm's current rules if bars aren't loading as far back as you expect. And remember, changing the interval never changes the contract or the data feed; it only changes how the existing data is bundled into bars.
New to Tradovate charts? Start with the Tradovate charting basics guide to open and lay out the Chart module, then come back here to dial in your timeframe.
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Start Your Free 5-Day TrialThis guide is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Trading futures and other leveraged products carries a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. PickMyTrade is an independent third-party automation platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Tradovate, Inc. "Tradovate" and all related names, logos, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Platform features and steps change over time, so always confirm the current process in the official Tradovate platform and documentation before acting.