DislikedI did scalp trading for several years and made a great living, but I hated my job trading. It sucked to me taking 5-10 trades a day and working 10+ hours and it seems everytime you step away you missed a good trade. I say use the scalps to make some cash once you have more cash trade longer and longer times and play bigger positions. There are several people who trade 10-20 times a year and make millions. More money = longer times. Also with the longer times you get your life back and your mental health.Ignored
As an FYI to those thinking about scalping: In forex, even though you are "scalping" you'd be hard pressed to find a good set-up hitting frequently. You end up sitting for hours waiting for your criteria to hit, so you are lucky to get 2 - 3 entries over a 6 hour period (and I use a 1 min chart frequently to scalp from, and sit waiting for hours before entering!). The only plus for me is the whole "instant" gratification thing....
Scalping only gives you a few pips compared to the longer time frames too (I like to scalp G/J because I can get quite a few pips on a scalp w/relatively little risk). It's much easier to make 60+ pips by trading cable on 4 hour method than to scalp your way there. You also have to have your trade plan and critical points defined either way -- but on the short time frames you really really have to pay attention to short term s&r and use these areas for entry and TP. You also have to be trading without distraction and with complete focus.
I particularly like the last part of Ryan's post (in bold). It is soooooo true. Even though my % gain on the scalping account can be pretty impressive -- it is a bit distorted b/c the account is small and it doesn't take many good G/J moves to really up the equity % wise (I don't trade G/J on the 4 hour method b/c of the large stops necessary).