WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE DAY : Is There Still Money In Scalping The Stock Markets....?

 

Scalping is the process of capturing small price moves in the markets, normally repeatable each day. A scalper may make several to several thousand trades each day. Scalping techniques are executed by individual traders, entire trading firms and also by algorithmic black box systems. With the amount of movement that occurs in the markets each day there are ample opportunities to grab small profits, but stops and losses must be kept extremely tight. Since profits are small stops must also be kept small so that a loss does not erase the profitable trades.

There are benefits to scalping, but scalping often requires a certain personality type. While anyone can learn to scalp, the people who will enjoy scalping are the ones who generally don't mind stress, can focus on the task at hand and often spend hours of intense concentration during their selected trading time. The traits among scalpers will of course vary, but since many trades are often made every single day, the trader needs to be disciplined and emotionally strong. Making many trades in a day can be wearing and many traders burn out before finding their groove. The burn out issue can be avoided by knowing what scalping will entail both technically and psychologically. Once we know what to expect we can prepare and develop our strategies for profiting, remaining disciplined and focused.

Increased volatility has hurt many traders, but it also has created advantages. It has really become an issue of "the more the market changes, the more it stays the same." Things still go too high, and then fall too far and there is always room for the scalper to jump in and take advantage of these opportunities intra-day. There are also the stocks which barely move at all, and a scalper can step in adding liquidity and trading the small range.

While some may argue that algorithms, black boxes and automated trades eliminate the arbitrage opportunities in the stock market, this really could not be further from the truth. If anything the abundance of computer orders allows for short term traders to capitalize on computer orders coming into the market. Just as humans push things too far, often algorithms do too, and then everyone turns and switches direction. Nothing has changed; it is just how we view the market that has changed. But the market does not care how it is viewed. As long as the market is there, scalpers can capitalize on its movements if they have the right personality for it.