Scalping Entry Signal

Scalping is one of the most difficult branches of day trading and if you're at a forum asking for others to share with you their scalping trade signal while not talking about the real risks of scalping...you're already in trouble.
AMEN
 
Scalping is without doubt the single easiest, fastest to learn method of trading.

If it wasn't, the firms that focus on it would focus elsewhere.

People think it is hard but they are usually comparing it with something that is easier but doesn't actually work. Like Fibonacci's. Or something along the lines of:
- trying to get 100 ticks from each trade
- trying to guess where the top/bottom of a move will be
- trading support/resistance (aka trading against momentum)
- trying, in advance, to guess how the day will play out and then taking pot shots at it
- using 6 screens of fancy, colorful crap, based on 2 pieces of information and waiting for 'convergence'

I think that covers 95% of retail traders

On the other hand a scalper will
- have a handful of data points on which to make a decision
- have multiple trades per hour generally speaking
- experience more attempts at trading a consistent market behavior than the "longer term traders" and so will eventually align their execution skills with market behavior.

You do not need 'timeframes' to scalp. You do generally need an eye on several markets to scalp a single market.

With practice, you should get profitable in 3-6 months. If you dick around with no structure, you will never make it. If you cannot review your trading at the end of a session, you will not make it.

Also - you might not have the aptitude for it - but better to know that in 3-6 months than play "guess the market" for 20 years.
 
Scalping is without doubt the single easiest, fastest to learn method of trading.

If it wasn't, the firms that focus on it would focus elsewhere.

People think it is hard but they are usually comparing it with something that is easier but doesn't actually work. Like Fibonacci's. Or something along the lines of:
- trying to get 100 ticks from each trade
- trying to guess where the top/bottom of a move will be
- trading support/resistance (aka trading against momentum)
- trying, in advance, to guess how the day will play out and then taking pot shots at it
- using 6 screens of fancy, colorful crap, based on 2 pieces of information and waiting for 'convergence'

I think that covers 95% of retail traders

On the other hand a scalper will
- have a handful of data points on which to make a decision
- have multiple trades per hour generally speaking
- experience more attempts at trading a consistent market behavior than the "longer term traders" and so will eventually align their execution skills with market behavior.

You do not need 'timeframes' to scalp. You do generally need an eye on several markets to scalp a single market.

With practice, you should get profitable in 3-6 months. If you dick around with no structure, you will never make it. If you cannot review your trading at the end of a session, you will not make it.

Also - you might not have the aptitude for it - but better to know that in 3-6 months than play "guess the market" for 20 years.
BINGO!
 
whipsaws occur on low liquidity eurusd is the most liquid in the world

it trades between 5 million and 10 million usd in value a minute....how does that compare with ES?
i have lost money because of my mistakes not because of whipsaws

traderGOD

The notional value traded for the ES today was approximately 258 Billion dollars. (1,900,000 contracts)
The first minute (8:30 Chicago) traded a notional value of approximately 1.75 Billion Dollars. (12,900 contracts)

They
 
Just curious to learn about others entry signal. Seems there are lots of good ideas and strategies but having a hard time figuring out what is a signal "rule" when working on small time frames and scalping. What are your thoughts?
I do not scalp exclusively but scalping is an integral part of my strategy. The concept of scalping seems like a sure fire way to quick and easy profits but there is a lot more to it. The risk to reward is often 1:1 so there is not that much room for error. The premise behind scalping is basically entering a trade that ideally starts to move immediately in the desired direction and exiting before it has a chance to pull back. Trades are often very short in duration and last seconds to a few minutes at most (depending on the instrument). The key to successful scalping is patience (waiting for the "right" setup).

I'd say gut feel, tape reading skills and thousands of hours of screen time are some of the prerequisites for successful scalping. That and having a sixth sense doesn't hurt either :).
 
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traderGOD

The notional value traded for the ES today was approximately 258 Billion dollars. (1,900,000 contracts)
The first minute (8:30 Chicago) traded a notional value of approximately 1.75 Billion Dollars. (12,900 contracts)

They
thanks i was wondering eurusd trades about 250 -900 contracts a min.
 
Scalping is without doubt the single easiest, fastest to learn method of trading.
that is view that not many have- most feel it is difficult- but that does not mean your view is wrong.
Intuitively it is the easiest to be comfortable with and often, this is the style dictated by most traders' financial capability, since most traders are under capitalized.

why then do 95% fail?

95% of aspiring doctors engineers chartered accountants, pilots, pro sportman....all fail.
 
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