It seems to behave like expected, but I'd like to make sure:
when fetching the previous on direction change tick with history.getTick(instrument, 1) we get the same ITick that was processed one event ago
so the history API is behaving differently for the different backtest modes? in this cases it returns only those ticks and not absolute ticks
thanks

Please provide an example strategy which replicates the case. Describe the launch conditions. If you use Historical Tester please do provide its settings.

well directly using the jforex remote historrical tester, with "process ticks on a market direction change"

and btw:

ITick prevTick;

public void onTick(Instrument instrument, ITick tick) throws JFException {
        print(prevTick== history.getTick(instrument, 1));//they are equal
        prevTick = tick;
}

Did you check the strategy with both of those historical tester settings? Did it work as expected?

yes it works as expected, they are equal.
though it would be good to be able to call history with a parameter of choice (all ticks (DataLoadingMethod.ALL_TICKS), on larket change ticks, ..)

Optimization is not the job of API. Why would you need something like this?