Scalping Questions for Career Scalpers

G

GMillz

Hello,

I'm a recent college grad that has been learning as much as I can about the markets and trading my Scottrade account for the past 3 years. I'm now seeking employment at a Prop Firm. One firm that I am speaking with now told me that most of the traders are scalpers and a few are overnight traders.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some information as to what types of people are scalpers in terms of psychological profiles? Does anyone know where I could obtain this type of information?

Is the Taylor Trading Technique a good book to read for scalping?

Are there any good QUALITY books available on scalping?

Last question....Is scalping a robust strategy that can be effectively employed across markets (i.e. from equities to index futures)?

Thanks for your input. If you scalp for a living, please include that in your reply. Thanks again.
 
Quote from GMillz:

I was wondering if anyone could give me some information as to what types of people are scalpers in terms of psychological profiles? Does anyone know where I could obtain this type of information?
More...
A scalper's psychological profile most resembles that of a serial killer. You always gotta be thinking about where your next hit is, where your fill was, who your next trade is, and where the target is etc. And when the opportunity arises, you got to pounce on it.You cannot stay too long either, or you might get caught red handed.. you must hit dat ass & run.
Quote from GMillz:

Is the Taylor Trading Technique a good book to read for scalping?
More...
NO

Are there any good QUALITY books available on scalping?
More...
Using the Ross Hooks
Thanks for your input. If you scalp for a living, please include that in your reply. Thanks again.
More...
I used to :D
 
Quote from Ripley:

A scalper's psychological profile most resembles that of a serial killer. You always gotta be thinking about where your next hit is, where your fill was, who your next trade is, and where the target is etc. And when the opportunity arises, you got to pounce on it.You cannot stay too long either, or you might get caught red handed.. you must hit dat ass & run.

More...

When I read this quote at first I was a little offended being described as a serial killer. Then I laughed at such an absurd analogy. Then I realized to my astonishment that he is right!

I am a serial killer!:eek:

If you truly want to scalp I have attached some comments that I have made in previous threads.

http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71131&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1111715#post1111715

Do a search using the word scalping.

Also do a search for Futurestrader71. He was a scalper who wrote a lot of good info on the subject of scalping.

Being young you might want to try to find a prop shop to trade thru.
 
Evidently. I prefer my pain before pleasure. Thanks guys and anyone else please continue to post. I have a prop firm that I'm interviewing with that focuses primarily on scalping. They have a pretty good track record and I'd like to build a good base of basic knowledge before I jump into the fire.

I think personality-wise I may be better suited for scalping. Right now I trade momentum. I prefer to make what I can when I can and be on to the next trade. Actually I don't know the profiles of scalpers quite yet, but either way, that's what I prefer.

Thanks again and good trading.

GM
 
Scalper thanks for the links. Wow, FuturesTrader21 has an enormous amount of posts on here! I was only able to get to page 4 of his posts today but after copying and pasting each of them that seemed relevant to, I filled up 10 pages. Thanks again.
 
Quote from GMillz:


Last question....Is scalping a robust strategy that can be effectively employed across markets (i.e. from equities to index futures)?
.
More...

Scalping is not an strategy, it's a way of trading.

Just because I can scalp listed equities successfully, doesn't mean I can scalp pork belly futures...
 
I understand what you're saying. But the underlying principles of scalping (those principles may differ from trader to trader in terms of what to look for in order to enter a trade) seem as though they can be employed across markets.

Of course you probably couldn't just wake up and decide to trade pork belly futures, but if you did a bit of research on the market beforehand (tick size, margin requirements, etc..), do you think you could do it?

I really don't want to start an argument, because I've seen how obnoxious these forums get sometimes, but isn't a "way of trading" the same thing as a strategy? Isn't a strategy a way to trade as well? Sounds like the same thing to me, just a semantic adjustment.

Thanks though.
 
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define:strategy

A strategy is a plan of action. You can have two different scalpers

with two different strategies.

I'll give you a childish example:

I play this game called Command and Conquer. Its a war game that my cousin and I play. Eventhough we play with the same army, he likes to attack in small waves, but I like to attack with a big ass army all at once. THAT is a strategy, because its a plan of action, the goal is still the same (to kill the other guy).

I hope that helps.
 
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