Forex scalping is based on making quick trades, where regardless the outcome (profit or loss) a trade is closed within 1-2, less often in 5-7 minutes from the start.

Forex scalping is one of the most demanding trading styles. It needs everything to work quickly, precisely and according with the strictest rules, and where the money management plays a paramount role. Successful Forex scalpers are known to grow a $50-$100 account into $5000-$10000 account in just 3-4 weeks!

A Forex scalper is an experienced craftsman in his industry. Building a trading system that would allow to scalp the market effectively is so difficult, that many traders, even professionals, often choose to conclude that price action on the small scale charts is random, because they can’t trade it.
Well, that’s my friends, only an excuse not to trade on smaller time frames.

What do you need to start scalping?

You need trading rules - a system, which will be based on quite a number of indicators; these days, scalpers use custom build indicators more than any other tools.
Speaking of trading rules and indicators, I haven’t met a scalper who would use only price patterns or only trend lines or fibonacci numbers, or Gann theory etc etc - all those fundamental studies which are used on larger time frames by expert traders, are rarely seen in scalpers’ systems. Instead, scalpers use a variety of trading indicators; sometimes also candlestick formations, but most of the time - indicators.

How to pick indicators for scalping?

I’m afraid, that’s going to be your task, my friend. Every scalper starts with some favorite tools he picks up while learning how to trade. The rest boils down to testing and trying hundreds of indicators on 1 minute charts in order to filter bad signals and leave the good ones. Scalpers read thousands of pages in the forums, on the websites, everywhere where people talk about indicators, and then every other evening sit and patiently test the tools they’ve gathered. It is a really hard work, no easy cake there. The work may go on for months and, easily, years, but in the end many scalpers get good results.

How to simplify this process?

There are several possible solutions:

1. Learn how to write custom indicators and speed up the process. Plus you can code your own robot to trade for you. Difficult? That’s how it works in Forex.
2. Ask someone or pay for coding you an indicator or an EA you need. That’s much easier, although you will most likely need to repeat the process many-many times.
3. Buy a ready scalping EA; but don’t be too excited, commercial scalping EAs rarely make good profits in the long run, plus, most popular of them are easily recognized and banned by Forex brokers.

Where do you start?

Get any scalping system you can find online, set it up on 1 minute charts and start analysing the performance while trying to improve the sequence of profitable trades. Shorten the profit targets and stops if needed, and work out the money management.

Why Forex brokers don’t like scalpers?

Scalpers are indisputably the least favorite clients for Forex brokers, where brokers hedges against their clients.
Forex brokers have already seen the dangers of a successful scalping, where traders were able to create thousands of dollars out of $50-$100 in starting capital in just several weeks. Mind-blowing for us, mere traders, and a nightmare for a dealing desk broker! I should add that only real ECN brokers are immune from scalping dangers, because ECN brokers don’t trade against their clients, they send your deals to the real interbank marketplace.
The rest of the brokers, trust me, take every precaution to ensure they’re protected from scalping disasters: they evaluate clients’ trades, check how long clients hold positions open, how frequently they trade, how successful they are with the short term trades, whether they use any expert advisors and so on. Forex brokers, who will not tolerate scalpers, mention scalping rules and restrictions in their Terms & Conditions, which traders rarely read, by the way, when opening trading accounts. Under such scalping restrictions, brokers can charge penalties and commissions to those traders who fall under the scalping category.

It is challenging to be a scalper, but it is also highly rewarding, and it is one of the sure ways to profit in Forex!

I’m not going to hide, I don’t feel like sharing my own scalping strategy that I spent years developing, but I can post some links to other resources, where you can pick a scalping strategy or two:
Scalp_trading_methods.pdf
FX Prime 1 minute scalping
C4 Scalping system
Forex scalping systems

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