Scalping Trading UK Guide 2024

Scalping is a popular trading strategy that seeks to profit from ultra-small pricing movements. The trader will often place dozens, if not hundreds of buy and sell orders throughout the day.

Due to the small profit margins being targeting, alongside the short amount of times that positions remain in play, scalping trading is often viewed as a low-risk strategy.

With that in mind, this guide will explain the basics about scalping trading in the UK. We unravel how the strategy works in simple terms – alongside a walkthrough of how you can start scalping assets online today.

What is Scalping Trading?

In a nutshell, scalping is a popular online trading strategy that is typically utilised by seasoned investors. With that said, by having a basic understanding of the fundamentals, scalping is potentially suitable for traders of all shapes and sizes. The main concept is that scalpers look to target super-small profit margins.

In order to do this, the scalping trader will often open a position and then close it just a few minutes later. In some cases, the trade might remain in play for a matter of seconds.

• Although the scalping trader will target minute margins, the individual will likely place dozens of positions throughout the trading day.
• In theory, as long as the trader has more successful trades than losing ones, they will finish the day in profit.

It is important to note that for scalping to be successful, the trader must have a strict set of entry and exit conditions. That is to say, the trader must ensure that sensible stop-loss and take-profit orders are deployed. In doing so, the trader will lock in their gains if or when the take-profit price is triggered.

This means that there is no requirement to manually close a position. Equally, if the trade doesn’t go to plan, the stop-loss order will ensure that the scalper’s losses are kept to an absolute minimum. After all, a sizable loss could wipe out all previous gains – especially considering the ultra-small margins that are being targetted.

Example of Scalping Trading

Scalping trading can be a confusing strategy to understand if you’re new to the online investing scene. Let’s look at a quick example in order to clear the mist.

• You are using a UK forex trading platform to scalp GBP/USD
• The current price of GBP/USD is 1.3208
• You place a buy order with an entry price of 1.3210
• You set up a stop-loss order at 1.3209
• You set up a take-profit order at 1.3212

Once the above orders are placed, only one of two things can happen:

• If your take-profit price is triggered at 1.3212, you make a profit of 2 pips
• If your stop-loss price is triggered at 1.3209, you make a loss of 1 pip

As you can see from the above example, scalping trading in the UK not only targets super-small profit margins, but stop-loss parameters are also small. This is why scalping is such a low-risk strategy – as, in this example, the potential loss stands at just 1 pip.

What Assets are Most Suited to Scalping?

In most cases, a scalping trading strategy can be deployed in any asset class.

This includes:

• Stocks
• Indices
• Commodities
• Forex
• Cryptocurrencies

With that being said, there are some clear conditions that must be met in order to utilise a scalping strategy. We will cover this in the next section.

Requirements for Scalping Trading UK

Unlike day trading, swing trading, or buy and hold strategies – scalping demands conducive trading conditions for the process to be effective.

These include:

0% Commission

You will find it very difficult to make a profit from scalping if you don’t use a broker that offers a 0% commission. After all, the amount of money that you will be looking to make from each buy or sell order is going to be minute.

For example, let’s suppose that you are using a UK forex broker that charges a commission of 0.1% per trade. This means that you will pay 0.5% when you place an order, and again when you close it. Let’s then suppose that you place a £100 buy order, and your scalping strategy make a 0.3% profit.

This translates to a gross gain of £0.30. However, we then need to factor in the 0.5% commission. As such, you would actually be making a net loss on this – even though you sold your chosen asset for 0.3% then you originally paid.

Tight Spreads

The spread is the difference between the ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ price of an asset, and it’s what ensures the broker always make a profit. You need to make gains of at least the spread just to get back to the break-even point.

When investing in an asset on a medium-to-long-term basis, the spread isn’t an overly important metric to take into account (within reason). This is because the spread will often amount to a small percentage, so it doesn’t have much of an impact on your potential profit.

However, this isn’t the case when scalping trading in the UK. After all, you will be looking to make super-low profit margins. With this in mind, it is crucial that you choose a UK scalping stock brokers that offers tight spreads.

High Trading Volume

A byproduct of high trading volume is a platform that benefits from sufficient liquidity levels. In simple terms, this means that there is enough money being traded on the market to enter and exit a position with ease.

As UK scalping traders are working with such small profit margins, it is imperative that you only trade assets with large trading volumes.

This might include blue-chip stocks, commodities like gold and oil, and major forex pairs. Similarly, you should also restrict your scalping trading endeavours to standard market hours, as this is when trading volumes are at their highest.

Avoid Market Orders

By placing a market order, you are instructing your chosen broker to execute your position at the next available price. The key problem with this is that you will often suffer from ‘slippage’.

This is when the execution price is different from the market price that you were hoping to get. In turn, this is likely to make your scalping strategy unviable.

Instead, always opt for limit orders. This is where you get to specify the exact price that you want your order executed at. Your position will only go live when the limit order price is triggered. Until then, the order will remain pending until cancelled.

Leverage is Required

Leverage allows you to amplify the value of a trade. For example, if you apply the leverage of 1:20 on a £500 buy order on gold, you are effectively trading with £10,000. Although newbies should avoid high leverage limits when first starting out, the exception to this rule is scraping.

This is because you will be targeting super-low profit margins. In other words, making average gains of 0.1-0.2% per winning trade is not going to earn you enough money to make trading worthwhile. Of course, this won’t be the case if you have a substantial bankroll.

But, if you are looking to deposit less than £50,000, you will need to consider applying leverage. The good news is that with the right risk management tools in place, leverage doesn’t have to be a high-risk manoeuvre.

Scalping Trading Strategies

Although scalping itself is a trading strategy popular with UK investors, there are many different ways to approach it.

Consolidation Strategy

One of the popular scalping trading systems for entry-level investors is that of a consolidation strategy. When an asset trades within a tight range, this is known as a consolidation period.

For example, let’s suppose that Facebook stocks have been trading between $250 and $255 for several weeks. This means that the stocks have not moved below $250 or above $255. Amounting to a pricing range of just 2%, this is highly conducive for a seasoned scalping trader.

The trader would look to target two particular positions over and over again until Facebook stocks break out of the aforementioned consolidation period.

• A buy order would be positioned just above the bottom end of the range at $250
• A sell order would be positioned just below the upper end of the range of $255

In theory, for as long as the range remains in play, the scalping trader will continue to capitalise. Of course, the trader will need to ensure that they are protected from the eventual break out that will occur. As such, stop-loss orders would need to be positioned just below the bottom end of the range, and just above the upper end of the range.

Low-Risk, High-Reward Ratios

An additional UK scalping strategy that is worth considering as a newbie investor is that of a low-risk, high-reward ratio strategy. In simple terms, when you set up both a stop-loss and take-profit order (which you should always do when scalping trading in the UK, there will be a ratio in how much you can potentially win and lose.

For example:

• Let’s suppose that you are trading oil – which is currently priced at $40.14 per barrel
• You place a buy limit order at $40.16
• Your take-profit order is set to $40.36
• Your stop-loss order is set to $40.14

As you can see from the above example, if your stop-loss order is triggered at $40.14, you will make a total loss of 2 pips. However, if your take-profit price is triggered, you will make a profit of 20 pips. In this example, your ratio is 2-20.

One the one hand, it is all-but-certain that are going to encounter more losing trades than winning ones. After all, your position will be closed as soon as it goes 2 pips into the red. On the other hand, you only need one winning trade to return 20 pips. In this sense, you need to win one trade for every 10 losing ones to break even. But, by winning 2 trades (40 pips profit) for every 10 losing ones (20 pips loss), you will be 20 pips in the green.

Scalping Trading UK Risks

Although scalping strategies allow you to trade in a low-risk environment, there are several risks that you need to consider before taking the plunge.

This includes:

Difficult to Implement

In truth, UK scalping trading systems can take many months, if not years, to deploy successfully. You will need to constantly run test-drives via a brokerage demo account on a trial-and-error basis.

Even then, market conditions can change at the drop of a hat, so you will need to constantly rethink your strategy. As such, if you’re a complete newbie in the world of online trading, scalping might not be for you.

Large Bankroll Required

As we have noted throughout this guide, scalping traders will look to make ultra-small profit margins. With that in mind, a low-to-medium level trader likely won’t have a large enough bankroll to make the process worthwhile. For example, let’s say that you have a £1,000 account balance.

You would need to have a substantial number of winning positions throughout the trading day for scalping to be viable. The only exception to this rule is if you apply leverage to your trades. This in itself comes with additional risks if sensible exit strategies are not deployed.

An Error can be Costly

Most scalping traders in the UK will enter dozens of buy and sell positions throughout the day. However, this can be somewhat overwhelming if the trader is inexperienced. As such, a single error could be extremely costly for the trader.

For example, if you are looking to scalp profits of 3 pips per trade, but an error results in a loss of 30 pips, you will need to hit 10 winning trades in a row just to make the money back.

UK Scalping Trading Platforms

If you want to benefit from scalping trading, you need to take particular care to ensure your chosen broker is suitable. As we covered earlier, you need to ensure that your choice of broker offers commission-free trading and tight spreads. Liquidity and trading volumes need to be high, and leverage facilities must be on the table.

Taking all of this into account, below we have listed a selection of UK scalping trading platforms that are worth considering.

How to Start Scalping Trading in the UK

If you’re keen to give scalping trading, then go with a trusted FCA broker. To show you how simple it is to get started:

Step 1: Open a Trading Account

To get the ball rolling, you will need to open a trading account.

This shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes – and simply requires the following personal information:

• Full name
• Home address
• Date of birth
• National insurance number
• Mobile number
• Email address

As an FCA regulated broker, you will also need to upload a copy of your:

• Passport of driver’s license
• Utility bill or bank account statement (issued in last 3 months)

You can upload the above documents at a later date, as long as you don’t intend on depositing more than £1,800-ish.

Step 2: Deposit Funds

If you want to start off with a demo account, some platforms offer a pre-loaded balance of $100,000. Alternatively, if you are ready to trade with real money, you can deposit funds with the following payment methods:

• Debit card
• Credit card
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Neteller
• Bank Transfer

You’ll need to meet a $200 account minimum, which is about £160.

Step 3: Place a Trade

You are now ready to place your first scalping trade. In our example, we are looking to trade Alphabet (Google) stocks – so we enter the name of the asset into the search box at the top of the page.

 

Then, by clicking on the ‘Chart’, you will be presented with some technical pricing data. You’ll want to change the timeframe from 1 day to 1 minute if you wish to scalp small pricing movements.

When you are ready to place some orders, click on the ‘Trade’ button.

You will now see an order box.  First, you need to enter your stake in US dollars and select your leverage multiple. In our example, we are looking to risk $500 with leverage of 1:5.

 

As we have noted throughout our guide, you also need to set up a stop-loss and take-profit order when scalping. In our example, we have our stop-loss set to $2.50 and our take-profit at $5.00. This presents a risk vs reward ratio of 1-2.

Finally, confirm the order. Your position will remain open until either your stop-loss or take-profit order is triggered.

Conclusion

Scalping trading is a great way to make financial gains in a risk-averse manner. When installing sensible stop-loss losses, alongside other risk management strategies, your potential losses are kept to an absolute minimum. Even though you will be targeting micro-profit margins, scalpers typically place dozens of buy and sell positions throughout the day.

With that said, if you want to make a success of your scalping endeavours, you will need to use a UK trading platform that offers commission-free trades, tight spreads, and heaps of tradable assets.

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