Scalping

Scalping is a trading strategy focused on profiting from very small price movements, typically holding trades for seconds to a few minutes. Scalpers aim to make many small gains throughout a session rather than waiting for one big move. A typical scalping target might be 3-10 pips per trade, repeated dozens of times per day.

Successful scalping requires: tight spreads (even 0.5 pips extra per trade adds up over 50 trades), fast execution with minimal slippage, a reliable internet connection, and a broker who actually allows scalping (some market makers restrict it). The time commitment is also significant — you can't scalp passively.

The appeal of scalping is reduced exposure to overnight risk and large adverse moves. The drawback is that transaction costs eat a larger percentage of each trade's profit. If you're making 5 pips per trade and paying 1 pip in spread, that's 20% of your gross profit going to costs. Commission-based ECN accounts with raw spreads tend to work better for scalpers than standard accounts with wider spreads.