not another scalping thread......!

F

FredBloggs

Guest
why the fascination??

why does everyone talk about scalping all the damn time??

i can understand the interest if a trader is sitting in a top prop or arcade, but whats everyone elses excuse, unless they have super low rock bottom costs and the right tools.

my theory is that you get a bunch of day traders who arent doing so well with the trend following gig, so they try to swing trade intraday. the moves are smaller, so must be easier to catch right? they then fail at that - so the mission for easy money (:confused: ) moves to scalping for a few ticks. after all, as all the trades our trader made, he sees that had he got out earlier, he would be cash positive.

am i right? is this why they tried scalping?

or is it this reason.....

everyone wants to think they are a pro right? we want to be just like those guys in the media - in a frantic mad mania making loads of money - because lets face it, unless youre looking real busy and busting a sweat, you will never be successful right? (WRONG!!) also, thats what the pros in the banks do - you know the market makers. they only play for a tick or 5c, and they all make stacks right? (WRONG AGAIN!!) so thats what i must do. i kind of call this the 9-5 fallacy - that we must work real hard and long hours to make money and be a success because thats what we are taught at school, and what are parents told us. so if we are very active and trading in and out all day (aka scalping), we satisfy our need to be 'busy' just like the pros

as usual, what is required to be a success in this business in the direct opposite of what intuition in 'normal' life dictates.

im not saying trading is easy, or that there isnt a lot of work to be done to achieve success, but it just aint in the areas we think at first.

im not dissing scalping either - or those who do it with the right approach

i just dont get the fascination amongst the retail crowd. please enlighten me...
 
I am certainly not a well seasoned and well trained trader. However, if you are trading for living your objective is income. No, money is not everything, but it is easier to enjoy oxygen, if you have some.

Each and every system of trading has its own path to success. So does scalping. It takes a long time to learn it and it can be pretty rewarding.
There are no shortcuts and long hours in front of the monitors will bring results.

It certainly beats the traffic and crappy corporate world. And here is the most important thing: I enjoy it.
 
true scalping is flipping immediately and playing the spread. this is why decimals killed that "game".

the professionals that you think of, like the mm and spec, they work for someone else. mm work orders and spec maintains an orderly market.

oh, and in general, we dont work long and hard because we're told to by teachers etc... its because of competition.

there is always someone out there that will be anticipating what YOU are doing.
 
Quote from Thunderdog:

Fred,

Just curious. Given your views, what is your typical time horizon and trading frequency?
More...

I was sorta wondering about this myself. Tell us Fred, what is the best way to trade?
 
There are many ways that lead to successful trading. There are people making money by trading horizons of 3 seconds while others make money holding onto their positions for years. It depends on your style. I believe the reason why on communities like ET and others people talk about and support scalping is because it just looks so darn easy. To beginners it seems so easy looking at past charts and saying "OH I could have just bought there and exited here and made 3 cents from 1K shares making 30 dollars and do this 100 times a day and made 3K!" Of course most get burned and feed the guys that are successful. Its just the nature of this business.
 
Quote from BSAM:

I was sorta wondering about this myself. Tell us Fred, what is the best way to trade?
More...

Find a gimmick, milk it and get out.

Or find an easy bull market/bubble, milk it, get out.

Unless you're in it for the challenge.
 
Quote from Hydroblunt:

Find a gimmick, milk it and get out.

Or find an easy bull market/bubble, milk it, get out.

Unless you're in it for the challenge.
More...

I can't see bubbles anywhere else other than in the energy market and even there it is not exactly easy peasy to milk profit out of oil.

Same can be said of metals and commodities markets in general.
 
Quote from FredBloggs:


im not dissing scalping either - or those who do it with the right approach
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Thats not what i just read. Sounded like a general rant that scalpers are failures that dont know how to trade or are just wannabe's with no idea what they are really doing chasing an illusion.

im not dissing you either...or those that dont understand a scalpers approach ;)
 
Scalpers seem to have the most challenging tasks of all traders.

Unless your system is automated and have machines doing all the work for you, I don't know how any of you can do it for more than a few months, let alone a few years.

Stare the screen all day to catch 10-15 cents?? And risk so much size? If you're part of the 3%, that's a great achievement. But for me, I find it a whole LOT easier trading in a longer time frame. Maybe it comes down to preferences, but I'd rather trade smaller size and try to catch dollars rather than risk size and scalp only a few cents here and there. I'm not "dissing" scalpers, but just appreciating how difficult it is to be one. My holding time frame is about 3 days to a week, and I just see so many advantages to trading beyond intraday. It's also easier on the emotions. When things go bad in intraday, panic or stubborn nature happens, but if you're traing daily bars, you have more time to think and reflect. Sometimes, in daytrading, you only have 5 minutes to make a criticial decision, and a spike may sometimes be a real breakout instead of a spike, and there are just so many false noise signals that it doesn't seem worth it to take the risks. But if your trading period is daily instead of tick bars, generally the signals have more reasonable logic and less chaos to them.
 
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