Can scalping make you rich?

[Splitlink]

Both scalping and position/ swing trading can make you far more money than you will ever be able to spend. The money is not and should not be a consideration when finding your style.

Wow! That sounds great! Believe me, the money has always been a consideration, as far as I am concerned.

Let me say that scalping, if you can do it with your mind on the ball, will not be unprofitable. That is more than can be said of traders who slap a stop loss on a trade and forget it.

I took 40 points on Thursday and lost 2 points on Friday in two trades. I aim to keep`those losing trades small and hope for the next good runs. That is all that you can do but it needs you to pay attention to what you are doing.

Previous highs, lows, patterns, and whatever, previous to the previous few hours have little influence on my trading now. It used to but I think, with age, thst I have learned better. It's all about your view of probabilities. Whst is going to happen NEXT?

 

[BILLV]

I took 40 points on Thursday and lost 2 points on Friday in two trades. I aim to keep`those losing trades small and hope for the next good runs.

Splitlink
Did you not make any pips on Friday?
It was a very good day for scalping

Previous highs, lows, patterns, and whatever, previous to the previous few hours have little influence on my trading now. It used to but I think, with age, thst I have learned better. It's all about your view of probabilities. Whst is going to happen NEXT?

If you are scalping I guess you only need to be looking at the 5 min and 1 min charts. Is that what you do?

 

[Splitlink]

Splitlink
Did you not make any pips on Friday?
It was a very good day for scalping



If you are scalping I guess you only need to be looking at the 5 min and 1 min charts. Is that what you do?

To be frank, I do not believe that I scalp in the true sense of the word. What I do is assess the trend direction, as best I can to my ability, from longer TFs, then I do, yes, use the 5M and, sometimes, the 1 and 2 minute charts.

There is a popular thread that uses the term "Scalping" and I have grown accustomed to it but I think that I am a short term trader, but not a scalper.

I've just fished my book out.

On Thursday I opened FT at 0934 and closed at 1255-- 5710.1 to 5731 for 20.2 points and

1514 opened at 5721 and was closed at 5742. I didn't get the time for that but took 20 points.

If you say that that is not scalping I'll go along with that.

Friday I tried EuroGBP without success. Flat and, also, tried Nasdaq for a 2 point loss.

Sorry, fella!

 

[BILLV]

Friday I tried EuroGBP without success. Flat and, also, tried Nasdaq for a 2 point loss(

Thanks, I usually trade the EUR/USD or AUD/USD pairs because I place many short term trades (5 sec-5 mins)
and I need the lower spread or some of my trades won't be making any money.

I tried the GBP/USD, in the past when I was playing with longer timeframes.
I made some good money because of sudden price spikes but at times it was very flat.
I haven't tried it recently because I've been busy with the AUD/USD but will give it a go if the chart pattern looks right

 

[Bint_Crusher]

Thanks, I usually trade the EUR/USD or AUD/USD pairs because I place many short term trades (5 sec-5 mins)
and I need the lower spread or some of my trades won't be making any money.

I tried the GBP/USD, in the past when I was playing with longer timeframes.
I made some good money because of sudden price spikes but at times it was very flat.
I haven't tried it recently because I've been busy with the AUD/USD but will give it a go if the chart pattern looks right

Read your posts and consider what an absolute pillock you are and make yourself out to be.

 

[BILLV]

Read your posts and consider what an absolute pillock you are and make yourself out to be.

No worries Binty, you're making a point and I have better things to do on a Sunday morning so cya

 

[Splitlink]

Hi Vergis,

Mate, with the EUR/USD pair I cannot predict what will happen in 5 minutes so I don't know how you can predict what will happen during the next 2 weeks.
Think about it.
You don't need SL's when you hedge but since I'm trading a live account I must protect it so I've started putting an SL of 20 pips on all my scalps (just in case my server crashes or I need to run off somewhere)
With the hedge I get in early and I cover my losing position limiting my losses to a few pips and provided that the pattern repeats itself the price will come good and I'll exit with a profit.

This technique is different to using SL's and getting out of the trade with a loss because
a) you hedge a losing trade well before a stop loss position
b) you don't waste the spread you've already paid and
c) you are likely to end up with a profit.

I know some people here will think I'm an idiot but I've tried it a few times and it worked and it is likely to work for your current trading strategy as well ( as long as you pick the right days and currency pair. Even if something drastic happens and the trend changes like the GBP crash the other day and the price turns against you by 100 pips your losing position will hit the SL and provided you remove the SL from your hedging trade you could make a lof of dosh.

In the demo account I noticed you take a lot ot EUR/USD positions.
Is it because of the lower spreads?
Euro tends to go in one direction these days and if you leave a long position open with no SL's or hedging you could expose yourself with an losing trade which will never become profitable.
Just a thought....

I think that I know what you are doing but it seems to me that hedging a trade is a way of going nowhere for a long time. Whatever up move there is on one trade is compensated by a down move on the other plus you are paying spread on two. I was interested in your remark about hedging a losing trade before the loss is triggered. If you want to hedge a trade it is because you have, already, doubts about it. My thoughts on this are that it is better to kill a trade and start again than hedge because hedging can be procedure that is time wasting.

What I did on the the last two days of last week have resulted in satisfaction for me because I cut the losers as soon as I ceased to like them.

Keep trades simple. Hedging stuff complicates thinking for me because I don't have an idea, then, which way I'm going.

In trading you have to be an individualist and noncomformist. For that you are likely to receive scorn. You have to try things out yourself-

 

[BILLV]

I My thoughts on this are that it is better to kill a trade and start again than hedge because hedging can be procedure that is time wasting

Hi Splitlink

Yes nothing wrong with your thought but this is my play account so I'm experimenting with it.
I think that if the price is going to turn around why kill the trade? I just hedge to lock in the equity and if my initial position is confirmed I can close the hedge when the price turns around and with a small profit.

Anyway, this technique is not for everyone and is not guaranteed to succeed
or my mate Binty would have been on it in a flash :cheesy:

 

[the hare]

Read your posts and consider what an absolute pillock you are and make yourself out to be.

FFS dont discourage him. These are the people who pay my salary

 

[BILLV]

FFS dont discourage him. These are the people who pay my salary

I did about 50 trades on Friday.
Are you my broker?
He's laughing all the way to the bank and he'll laugh even more when I increase my lot size.
As you can see I paid $122 in brokerage and made $93

 

[Splitlink]

I did about 50 trades on Friday.
Are you my broker?
He's laughing all the way to the bank and he'll laugh even more when I increase my lot size.
As you can see I paid $122 in brokerage and made $93

Don't boast.

I'll bet I made more in four trades over two days than you but, as The Hare suggested, your commssions are paying someone's wages, so you must be pleased about that. I am. Thank God that we have, at least, one philanthropist in our midst.

 

[the hare]

As you can see I paid $122 in brokerage and made $93

I'm not, but I wish I was

If you look at my posting history, you'll find that I often try to inject an element of common sense to counter the outlandish nonense you find here. A few years ago I shared some statstics from a system I was trading. Someone pointed out that my average gain was only around double what I paying in spread ! (NB I'm not talking about the size of an average win, I'm talking about the total number of pips gained in a year divided by the number of trades taken !)

I was trading a fairly sizable account at the time, so yes, my broker was probably delighted. Today, my average gain is around 3 times what I pay in spread, and I'm trading an account around one twentieth of the size, and half the leverage, so my broker is less happy.

The point that you might find interesting is that there was a strong correlation between the duration that the trade was open, and mathematical expectancy. In fact, there was a threshold below which it was simply impossible to overcome the negative edge of the spread. I'm not going tell you what that figure is because its meaningless out of context, but I would suggest that opening a trade for 5 seconds places you at a serious disadvantage (unless you are serious HFT operator)

The typical t2w punter really doesnt understand the magnitude of the spread, or its effects on performance. That tiny spread is the mechanism used to empty their accounts, if they could find an equivelent edge, they'd be rich beyond their wildest dreams, but of course, even when they stumble across the solution (which used to be posted daily back in the days people discussed trading here rather than lulz) they cant recognise it.

I guess I'm saying that your broker earning more than you are isnt such a bad place to be, or anything to get alarmed about (although there's room for improvement).

 

[BILLV]

Don't boast.

I'll bet I made more in four trades over two days than you but, as The Hare suggested, your commssions are paying someone's wages, so you must be pleased about that. I am. Thank God that we have, at least, one philanthropist in our midst.

mate I'm not boasting, I did it so that they stop posting nonsense.
Yes you can easily make this much and more doing day trades.
I'm just experimenting with this account.

Yes I don't mind paying when I make money.
I actually didn't realise that the $122 in brokerage was since the beginning of January but I just pasted the data into excel and forgot to change it

 

[BILLV]

If you look at my posting history, you'll find that I often try to inject an element of common sense to counter the outlandish nonense you find here

No worries mate, keep them coming
I actually don't mind Binty's comments either, I know he means no harm.

I'm not, but I wish I was
The typical t2w punter really doesnt understand the magnitude of the spread, or its effects on performance. That tiny spread is the mechanism used to empty their accounts, if they could find an equivelent edge, they'd be rich beyond their wildest dreams, but of course, even when they stumble across the solution (which used to be posted daily back in the days people discussed trading here rather than lulz) they cant recognise it.

I guess I'm saying that your broker earning more than you are isnt such a bad place to be, or anything to get alarmed about (although there's room for improvement).

Yes the spread is a significant cost in this business so we have to find ways to overcome it.
I've looked around for a better broker and I think this one (pepperstone) has the lowest charges for this size account. It's a fixed fee of $7 for a full round ($100K lot)

 

[kartthik]

If one's trading strategy is good(good entries and exits), the same applies to a 10 second chart or a 10 year chart. Only difference is the waiting time.

 

[tommason]

this is trick question, the best winner come from trend trading, not scalping. scalping is a harder way compare to trend trading. why? b/c u need to be extremely accurate and patient. trend trading u just le t it go

 

[adatherton]

Surely scalping recycles your capital more.

 

[danboi8989]

I want to trade the mini dow intraday for about 10 points or so .......can you recommend a spread better with really tight spreads ?

I know this post is old and youve probably made your mind up by now but... tradefair has always worked for me... tight spreads and simple platform, good charts, nothing too fancy and confusing... i recomend it