Styles by holding period
Scalping: seconds to minutes
4 min
Scalping is the fastest style. A scalper opens and closes trades within seconds to a few minutes, aiming to capture a handful of pips many times a day. Profit comes from volume of trades, not the size of any single win.
How it works
A scalper works on very low timeframes (tick, one-minute, five-minute charts), often during the most liquid hours, taking dozens or even hundreds of small trades. Each target is tiny, so each loss must be kept tiny too.
Pros
- Many opportunities — you are never waiting long.
- Small, frequent profits can compound quickly.
- Almost no overnight risk, so no exposure to weekend gaps or surprise news while you sleep.
Cons
- Costs eat you alive. When your target is five pips, a two-pip spread is 40% of the trade. Scalping only works with razor-thin spreads and fast execution.
- Demands intense, unbroken concentration — exhausting and hard to sustain.
- Highly sensitive to slippage and platform latency.
Who it suits
People who can sit fully focused for long stretches, who stay calm under rapid-fire decisions, and who have a low-cost broker. It is, paradoxically, one of the hardest styles for beginners despite looking the most active — the cost drag and emotional speed punish small mistakes ruthlessly.
This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice. Trading and investing carry risk, including the possible loss of capital. Any performance shown by third-party tools is hypothetical and not a promise of future results. Do your own research and consider professional advice before making any decision.