Scalping series: #01 Rules for scalping

Scalping involves executing quick, high-probability trades, typically targeting profits around half the size of an average bar while risking the full bar size. Because this strategy often yields a negative risk-reward ratio, traders must maintain a win rate exceeding 70% to remain profitable, a threshold most individuals struggle to achieve consistently. While high-frequency trading firms dominate market volume using automated algorithms, individual traders cannot replicate these methods due to a lack of infrastructure and flexibility. Real-time market execution presents significant challenges, as signal bars often shift in the final seconds, making static chart analysis misleading. Consequently, swing trading remains a more viable and sustainable approach for most participants, as it allows for greater flexibility and requires less perfect precision than the high-stakes, rapid-fire environment of professional scalping.