One of the most common trading strategies in forex is scalping. This is mainly because it is thought of as the easiest strategy that doesn’t require learning how to do any hard analysis. Most people just keep scalping as the only strategy instead of moving on and learning some better strategies that have a better chance at success. So are you scalping your account away?
What is Scalping?
Retail traders have shown a strong preference for short-term trading tactics in recent years. Short-term traders enter and exit the market in a matter of seconds rather than waiting for many days for a trade setup. They also limit their trading activity to the times of day when the market is at its most active and liquid.
This ensures that there is no risk incurred overnight, and at the end of each trading day, a complete accounting of both earnings and losses can be performed with ease. Scalping is a form of trading that takes place over short time periods and is appropriate for investors who lack the patience to trade on longer time frames.
Scalpers anticipate making only very little profits on each trade, but because they establish a large number of positions during the day, they have a good chance of closing the day with huge gains. Having said that, you really must be conscious of the fact that this is a very aggressive trading approach. And if you don’t have the self-control to sit in front of your computer for a certain amount of time every single day. You will fare much better if you adopt a trading strategy with a longer time horizon, such as day trading or swing trading.
The Advantages
Scalping in forex gives you the ability to make many transactions in a single day, which is one of the most significant benefits of this trading strategy. There are a lot of folks that enjoy maintaining an active presence in the industry.
The majority of scalpers engage in several deals during the course of the trading day, which may be highly exciting for the trader involved. A further benefit of utilizing this tactic is the ability to generate consistent and manageable revenues. If you use one of the many different trading tactics, it can be days or even weeks before you actually finish a deal that was lucrative. You are able to bring in money on a daily basis if you have an effective stopping approach.
It’s possible that those who are seeking to make a living off of their forex trading would find this strategy more appealing because it’s constant. In addition to this, scalping will allow you to take on less risk with each transaction. People who scalp only use a relatively tiny position size in comparison to the rest of their accounts.
Small Tip
Every time you place a trade, you will only be exposing yourself to a little financial loss since stop-loss orders will limit the amount of money that may be lost. This may be a useful strategy for preserving your bankroll and preventing you from having to take a significant loss. One other possible benefit of scalping is that it does not require a significant amount of movement in the market in order to be able to generate a profit from it.
If you want to be successful with other long-term trading tactics, you have to have your sights set on large earnings, which means the market needs to move significantly for you to be profitable. Scalping is a kind of trading in which you only need the market to move a small number of points in order to accomplish what you set out to do.
The Disadvantages
It is possible to have a very difficult time predicting what the market will do from minute to minute when using this method, which is one of the major potential drawbacks of this approach.
Although some people are able to see a pattern and capitalize on it over the course of a longer period of time, it is sometimes far more challenging to precisely predict what will occur within the next five minutes.
Many industry professionals are of the opinion that it is not viable to make regular profits through the use of technical indicators while engaging in short-term scalping transactions. Another drawback of using this method is that in order to turn a profit from it, you will need to have a winning record that is unbroken.
If you want to rack up a significant level of return with this sort of method, you will need to be successful in each and every transaction you enter. When you employ a trading strategy that is designed for the long term, you open yourself up to the possibility of making a significant profit from a single deal. In order to make any headway with scalping, you will need to have a string of consecutive victories.
Are You Scalping Your Account Away?
Making a living by scalping the forex market or any other financial instrument involves self-discipline and the ability to analyze the market over very short periods. Do you want to call yourself a scalper and master this trading method? You need to spend a significant amount of time in front of your charts.
If possible, limit your trading to times when the market is experiencing the most activity. Less active markets tend to have wider spreads and more slippage, which can cut your earnings. Additionally, you should record relevant market news on an economic calendar and keep track of it since recent market news can cause major price movements on short-term timescales.
So are you scalping your account away? Think about the pros and cons we just talked about and put them on your scale. If the pros outweigh the cons for you, you’re good to go. However, if the cons outweigh the pros for you, you might want to consider switching to a different strategy.
Don’t trade all the time, trade forex only at the confirmed trade setups.
Get more confirmed trade setups here: forexgdp.com/signal/