There is an allure to scalping that I just can’t put my head around, pun intended. There are different definitions of what scalping is exactly, but for sake of simplicity I consider it to be any trade that is opened and closed within 90 seconds. Why? Because this was the general description that was used at the forex broker I used to work at.

There are probably a number of reasons why people do scalp:

• Looking for quick profits to compound over and over.
• Impatient: They want money now.
• Fear: It is hard to watch a trade once in profit turn around for a loss.

Here is my counter-list of reasons not to:

• Usually a bad risk to reward: You want 5 pips, but won’t close a loss until 50.
• One loss can wipe out countless winners.
• You really have no idea where the currency pair is going in the next 90 seconds.

…Really those just name a few of the reasons I think scalping is the worst way to trade forex. Of course I have to throw a disclaimer in here. I KNOW that somewhere out there, there will be someone who is going to tell me they have made millions scalping over the last five years. I know this. This is a generality, but I think it is a safe one. It only took a small amount of research at a former place of employment to realize that there was a very strong correlation between length of trades and profit. Don’t lose your head!