diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_distribution.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_distribution.js
index 8fc6a6a27282..151bd60ad4c6 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_distribution.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_distribution.js
@@ -239,11 +239,10 @@ export class ExplorerChartDistribution extends React.Component {
       timeBuckets.setInterval('auto');
       const xAxisTickFormat = timeBuckets.getScaledDateFormat();
 
-      const emphasisStart = Math.max(config.selectedEarliest, config.plotEarliest);
-      const emphasisEnd = Math.min(config.selectedLatest, config.plotLatest);
+      const tickValuesStart = Math.max(config.selectedEarliest, config.plotEarliest);
       // +1 ms to account for the ms that was substracted for query aggregations.
-      const interval = emphasisEnd - emphasisStart + 1;
-      const tickValues = getTickValues(emphasisStart, interval, config.plotEarliest, config.plotLatest);
+      const interval = config.selectedLatest - config.selectedEarliest + 1;
+      const tickValues = getTickValues(tickValuesStart, interval, config.plotEarliest, config.plotLatest);
 
       const xAxis = d3.svg.axis().scale(lineChartXScale)
         .orient('bottom')
@@ -283,7 +282,7 @@ export class ExplorerChartDistribution extends React.Component {
         .call(yAxis);
 
       if (tooManyBuckets === false) {
-        removeLabelOverlap(gAxis, emphasisStart, interval, vizWidth);
+        removeLabelOverlap(gAxis, tickValuesStart, interval, vizWidth);
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_single_metric.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_single_metric.js
index 1eb9092dd2af..f6212e766b79 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_single_metric.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/explorer/explorer_charts/explorer_chart_single_metric.js
@@ -192,11 +192,10 @@ export class ExplorerChartSingleMetric extends React.Component {
       timeBuckets.setInterval('auto');
       const xAxisTickFormat = timeBuckets.getScaledDateFormat();
 
-      const emphasisStart = Math.max(config.selectedEarliest, config.plotEarliest);
-      const emphasisEnd = Math.min(config.selectedLatest, config.plotLatest);
+      const tickValuesStart = Math.max(config.selectedEarliest, config.plotEarliest);
       // +1 ms to account for the ms that was substracted for query aggregations.
-      const interval = emphasisEnd - emphasisStart + 1;
-      const tickValues = getTickValues(emphasisStart, interval, config.plotEarliest, config.plotLatest);
+      const interval = config.selectedLatest - config.selectedEarliest + 1;
+      const tickValues = getTickValues(tickValuesStart, interval, config.plotEarliest, config.plotLatest);
 
       const xAxis = d3.svg.axis().scale(lineChartXScale)
         .orient('bottom')
@@ -236,7 +235,7 @@ export class ExplorerChartSingleMetric extends React.Component {
         .call(yAxis);
 
       if (tooManyBuckets === false) {
-        removeLabelOverlap(gAxis, emphasisStart, interval, vizWidth);
+        removeLabelOverlap(gAxis, tickValuesStart, interval, vizWidth);
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.js
index af0ef308c37b..a5965e535650 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.js
@@ -239,6 +239,12 @@ const TICK_DIRECTION = {
 // the bounds of earliest and latest. This is useful for the Anomaly Explorer Charts
 // to align axis ticks with the gray area resembling the swimlane cell selection.
 export function getTickValues(startTimeMs, tickInterval, earliest, latest) {
+  // A tickInterval equal or smaller than 0 would trigger a call stack exception,
+  // so we're trying to catch that before it happens.
+  if (tickInterval <= 0) {
+    throw Error('tickInterval must be larger than 0.');
+  }
+
   const tickValues = [startTimeMs];
 
   function addTicks(ts, operator) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.test.js b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.test.js
index 88ae5551f879..7e67edd16666 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.test.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/util/chart_utils.test.js
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ describe('getTickValues', () => {
       1519257600000
     ]);
   });
+
+  test('invalid tickIntervals trigger an error', () => {
+    expect(() => {
+      getTickValues(1518652800000, 0, 1518274800000, 1519635600000);
+    }).toThrow();
+    expect(() => {
+      getTickValues(1518652800000, -604800000, 1518274800000, 1519635600000);
+    }).toThrow();
+  });
 });
 
 describe('isLabelLengthAboveThreshold', () => {