Monday 3 November 2008

Forex scalping basics


The forex market is the most liquid of todays exchange, trading in excess of 1.6 trillion dollars daily. This is roughly greater than 5 times the daily trading volume of the U.S. Treasury Bond Market, and 160 times the average daily volume of the U.S. Stock Market. This extreme liquidity gives forex traders an edge in the art of lightning fast execution and the quick trade method referred to as scalping.

Forex scalping is considered as the art of using high leverage and a large number of short term trades to steadily increase an account. Usually, only 1 to 5 pips are targeted for each trade. This type of trading appeals greatly to day traders and those looking to minimize the risk involved in trading currencies. Next to money management, risk control is the single most important trait to a surviving (and thriving) currency trader. The small amount of time that is spent in the market limits much of the risk in exposure in comparison to a longer term system. Also, the freedom involved in a speedy forex scalping system in such a liquid market is a magnet that drives many traders from other markets to try their hand in currency. A disciplined and steady scalper could seamlessly double or triple an account, and spend only a fraction of the time in the market as a common day trader.

Effective forex scalping strategies take advantage of extremely slight price fluctuations (sometimes only 1-3 pips) many times in order to steadily build an account. Because of the smaller number of pips gained per trade, larger than normal leverages play a key role in a successful forex scalping strategy. By leveraging much more than a standard day trader in a liquid environment, a very skilled scalp trader is able to make just as much money as the day trader in a shorter period of time. However, this is an obvious double-edged sword. The market can just as easily move against you on a high leverage, which could produce substantial blows to your account.

Also, it is important to take into consideration the physical and mental speed of a trader who will only stay in the market for seconds to minutes. Executing a scalping strategy by hand can be extremely difficult considering the quick amount of time you must be in and out of the market for your strategy to be affective Many successful forex scalping strategies are built to be automated; the rules to the system are coded into a trading platform to automatically perform scalp trades around the clock. Though it is completely possible to trade a forex scalping strategy manually, the majority of todays traders would agree that automating the process based on a set of rules would be the best way to ensure speed and reliability. When choosing a platform to automate your scalp strategy, it is extremely important to stick with those platforms that allow the execution of your system on every tick (such as MetaTrader 4). This ensures that your entrances and exits will be on a per-tick basis, and will give you a much higher probable rate of success than those platforms who will execute your code more periodically.

Though forex scalping may seem like a preverbal holy grail at first glance, there are still many unseen hurdles that surround the controversial method of trading. If you do wish to add scalping to your trading toolbox, it is extremely important to pick a broker who can support a scalpers system. You will quickly find that many brokers do not allow scalp trading, as the method of quickly entering and exiting trades may actually cause the broker to lose money at the dealing desk. Forex scalping also does not give the broker a means to trade against their clients. Out of the hundreds of online forex brokers, only a handful support (and sometimes encourage) scalping.

Forex scalping can be a good method of growing an account quickly, but should not be looked at as the holy grail of trading. Most brokers do not support scalping, and a consistently profitable forex scalping strategy can be very difficult to engineer. However, if much time and effort is spent in system optimization and setting up a good relationship with a scalp supporting broker, the benefits could be well worth the time spent.

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1. Lowest spreads in the market with 0-1 pips in 10 pairs, no commissions, no swaps and instant account Activation.

2. Scandinavian quality with Swiss precision, funds secured and local agents in 18+ countries.

3. ForexGen offers Forex trading in the major currency pairs and crosses.

4. Low capital start, with $250 as a minimum account size.

5. Liquidity and 24/5 availability are the characteristic factors of the Forex market compared with other financial markets.

6. ForexGen offers a free trial Forex demo account that allows you to test your skills and practice without risking real money.

We consider every client as a special case, a VIP and a partner. A client's profit is our success and a client's loss is a significant call of action for us. Customer care is the heart of our business, we know every client on personal bases as we provide 24/7 customer support. We keep contact with our clients to ensure that we are on the right track. Leading our client relationship to success is our focus. Let's prove to you that you have taken the right step by choosing our partnership.

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