What is Scalping?
Scalping is a style of very short holding periods — seconds to minutes — harvesting small moves with strict risk and high attention.
Formula
Scalping Example: 9:30:15 - Stock at ₹500.10, bid heavy (buyers) 9:30:17 - Buy at ₹500.15 9:30:45 - Stock at ₹500.50, sell at ₹500.45 9:30:47 - Out of trade Profit: ₹0.30 per share Holding time: 30 seconds Position size: 1,000 shares Total profit: ₹300 Do this 20 times successfully = ₹6,000 Minus commissions = Net profit
Indian market context (NSE)
Reference levels: Nifty 50 at 24,300, Reliance Industries at ₹1,300, Bank Nifty futures at 55,000 (lot size 30). Examples below show how Scalping shows up on Indian index, equity, and futures books — update to live quotes in your journal.
Nifty 50 perspective
Scalping on Nifty (24,300): backtest includes 9:15 liquidity and expiry-day behaviour; edge on index may vanish outside 10:00–14:30 window.
Reliance Industries perspective
Scalping on Reliance (₹1,300): liquidity is deep but event gaps dominate — strategy rules need explicit earnings blackout weeks.
Bank Nifty futures perspective
Scalping on Bank Nifty futures (55,000): high beta suits shorter holds; overnight scalping must state NRML risk and gap plan in writing.
How to validate
- Validate Scalping only after costs — gross win rate can hide negative expectancy.
- Use walk-forward windows (e.g. last 60 / prior 60 trades) for stability.
- Retire or refactor the tag if Scalping expectancy turns negative with 50+ trades.
- Ensure no overlapping tags duplicate the same trades.
How to track in TradeLyser
- Define Scalping in Strategy Board with entry/exit/skip criteria.
- Enforce single-tag discipline — no secondary discretionary entries.
- Review expectancy, win rate, and avg R monthly on the tag only.
- Archive tag version when rules change; do not blend old and new trades.
Best practices
- One playbook page per Scalping strategy with non-negotiable rules.
- Paper trade rule changes for two weeks before live size.
- Track costs explicitly on high-frequency Scalping variants.
- Compare versioned tags after each rule amendment.
Common pitfalls
- Adding discretionary trades under the Scalping tag.
- Scaling up after one lucky week of Scalping results.
- Ignoring brokerage drag on high-frequency variants.
- Retiring a tag without exporting final statistics.
How to use this in TradeLyser
Tag scalp trades separately. Review net P&L after all charges — gross win rate alone misleads.
Related terms
A stop loss is a pre-defined exit when the market moves against you by a set amount. It caps loss per trade when fills match your plan.
Volume Weighted Average Price averages traded price weighted by volume from session open. Many intraday desks use it as fair-value reference.
Win rate is the share of your closed trades that closed in profit after costs. It tells you how often you are right — not how much you make when you are wrong.
FAQ
How much can you make scalping?
Professional scalpers target 0.1-0.5% per trade, accumulating through high volume. On $100,000 capital with 20 trades averaging 0.2%, that's $400/day before commissions. Actual profits depend heavily on execution, commissions, and consistency.
Is scalping profitable?
Scalping can be profitable but has narrow margins. High win rates (60-70%) are needed because profits per trade are small. Commissions, slippage, and execution speed are critical—what works for institutions may not work for retail traders.
What is the difference between scalping and day trading?
Scalping holds for seconds to minutes targeting tiny moves (0.1-0.5%). Day trading holds minutes to hours targeting larger moves (0.5-3%). Scalping requires faster execution, lower commissions, and more trades. Day trading needs fewer but higher-quality setups.
What timeframe is best for scalping?
Scalpers use 1-minute, tick, or even time-and-sales charts. Some use 5-minute for context. The key is seeing price action at the most granular level to identify micro-opportunities.
Why is scalping difficult?
Tiny profit margins mean commissions and slippage can consume profits. You need extremely fast execution, high win rate, and emotional control for dozens of trades daily. Small mistakes compound quickly with high trade frequency.
Start journaling with
TradeLyser
Connect your broker, tag strategies, and review performance with AI-assisted insights.