NickB's 4H Scalping Method

I’ve noticed that a lot of people here on Babypips lately are interested in the NickB method. Nick was a Babypips blogger last year, but his method never caught on and his blog died out…

I think part of the problem is that even though Nick’s strategy is floating around Babypips, it’s in the form of a 42 page .pdf document that no one wants to read!! So here, in one page or less, I’m going to explain the most popular aspect of NickB’s trading system, the 4 Hour Scalping Method.

I’ve been trading this system live for almost a year now, and I’ve done very well with it. I have a 70% win rate on these trades so I think it’s time to get more Babypippers trading this way!!

The setup for the trades is simple…

Pair: GBP/JPY
Timeframe: 4 hour
Indicators: NONE!!

What we want to do first is to find recent swing highs and swing lows where the price has hit and made a significant reversal. Here are some examples.

At each of the orange lines price changed direction and moved, over many 4 hour candles, hundreds of pips away. These orange lines are called scalp lines.

So what do we do with these scalp lines?? You trade them! When the price returns to a scalp line you simply place a trade on the break of the line using a 50 pip stoploss and a 50 pip takeprofit. That’s all there is to it!

Here is an example of a scalp line break:

Not only are these trades easy to find, they can be taken with pending orders! So if you work full-time this is a great method to use!

If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to post them. And, just to be clear, this is not my system. It was developed by Nick Bencino, aka NickB.

EDIT: Here’s a copy of Nick’s ebook that describes his entire system.

nickbmethod.pdf (476 KB)

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I think part of the problem is that even though Nick’s strategy is floating around Babypips, it’s in the form of a 42 page .pdf document that no one wants to read!!

I think if people aren’t willing to do any work how can they be successfull?

Also I think people want more than 100 pips a week, but if you look at it 100 pips is more than enough to be a success at forex. Also look at signal services that charge you monthly basically nobody consistantly earns more than 400 pips a month.

Bottom line is Nicks method works, its simple and its profitable. I think anyone who isnt profitable right now should consider looking at his method more closely.

thanks, john

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Something I totally agree with you about Phil. I am surprised Nicks method doesnt have more followers. Interested that you have a 70% win rate. Do you stick to the 1R return per trade or try to let it go.

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If price is moving fast I’ll let it go a little, I get and extra 10-30 pips quite often, and more on occasion.

hey guys nick is going to be hosting another 5 day forex blitz and if you missed the last one you owe it to yourself to sign up. It is 100% free and very educational. there will be webinars, videos, articles and again 100% free.

I get crap offers in my email all the time to join this course or that course blah blah blah. Im telling you throw all that crap away and see what profitable trading looks like. your gonna be suprised at how simple it can be!!!

5 Day Forex Blitz!

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I second the motion plus I urge everyone to download Nick’s free Ebook - lots of good trading info there even if you don’t use his strategy. Unless thinking is not your bag. And Phil in one post excellently explained Nick’s “scalping” (huh, scalping on a 4H chart!?) strategy - thanks for that Phil. d

Thanks for the info johnnykanoo, I just registered, and for starting this thread phil838. I took my first trade with Nick B’s method yesterday and it was an easy 50 pips. I love the simplicity of it. I think I need something like this. I’ve been trying to trade gartleys and butterflys lately because I like doing the more complex chart analysis. But I always go crazy when the moves are successful but I just barely don’t get filled. This always happens it seems no matter how much I shade my entry. Then I get frustrated and the emotions that affect my trading start to kick in.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. With Nick B’s system, if the trade is going to be successful, I’m going to get in it. It’s amazingly uncomplicated and I think that helps keep my emotions in check.

lavaman im glad you are trying out nicks method. i personaly love it. its 4h charts so i can have a life. i just bring my netbook with me and once every 4 hours or so i check my charts.

I really am happy to see so much support for nicks system and again i really encourage the newer traders to check out his 5 day blitz, even veteran traders can get a fresh perspective (like me) his method has really helped me be consistant.

I was wondering why nickb wasn’t here anymore. I think part of the reason people overlook it, is that it is so simple. There are no special indicators or gizmoes or formula. It’s either line break or line bounce off historical S&R and or sudden spike.

His was the first method I looked at, then I past it up, because it seemed too simple. I figured there must be way more to being successful at forex. I think a lot of new traders probably think the same way.

The only other reason I can think of is that you are not doing lots of trades every day. You can go for days or weeks without a trade sometimes. But, this is a good thing, considering the winners net +50 - +100 pips a trade. It’s off the 4H charts, so it won’t appeal to the new trader who thinks trading is like being in front of a slot machine and pulling the lever more times give you a bigger chance at hitting the jackpot.

I’ve been through a lot of systems and methods, devouring everything I can in a quest for knowledge, and frankly this is the only one that I think will be able to stand the test of time and be consistent.

IMO, almost all indicators are complete garbadge. If you learn to read candles and price action that is all the indicator you will ever need.

I think you’re absolutely right!

Another thing I hear a lot from new traders is that they think trading 4H charts takes too much time. They say, “I can’t trade that way because I can’t check my charts every 4 hours!”

I look at my chart on Sunday night or Monday morning, set my pending orders and alarms, and I’m done with this system for the week. You can literally spend less than 5 minutes per week trading this system if you use pending orders. I think it’s a goldmine for traders with full-time jobs.

Now if you are around to check your charts and watch the trades when they hit, you can catch the extra lines that form during the week and maximize your profits. But these are luxuries and not necessary to be a successful trader.

I’m going long at 159.20.

I didn’t like it at first because it didn’t retrace enough for my tastes, but I think the double bounce makes it an excellent line now.

Also, for any traders new to the system, I always have a 5 pip buffer past the actual scalp line before I enter the trade. That helps to filter out the fake breaks like the one we had on the 12:00GMT candle.

I should probably have put that in the rules…

159.20 broke and was a winner!

It flew past the 50 pip mark and I got out for +60.

Anybody else make any pips on this one??

I entered an order for this one several hours ago, then came home from a concert and turned on my platform to see the last few minutes of the trade giving me 50 pips, nice! Two successful scalp line trades this week. I didn’t see anything about it in Nick B’s ebook, but I also decided I better give a 5-7 pip buffer to weed out some of the bounces, working well so far.

Does anyone know of another pair that is somewhat unrelated to the GBP/JPY (so they don’t end up with similar scalp lines) that would work well with this method. I’m just curious. Does the GBP/JPY have a better track record with these types of trades?

One of the guys over at Nick’s site, Metalhawk, has been demoing scalp lines on USD/CAD. He just started doing it on a live account and is using an 8 pip buffer and a 35 pip SL/TP.

The overall trend and big moves on USD/CAD are inversely correlated to GBP/JPY, but if you look closely the scalp lines are completely different.

I’ve never traded it personally, but Metalhawk is a [I]very [/I]conservative trader and if he says it works I trust him.

Thanks Phil

Damn, I entered and then deleted the exact same trade because I wasn’t going to be around to watch. O well always another trade.

What do you think about 153.44 ?? I’m hanging in for that one myself.

I’m not sure if anyone has been trading JPY pairs today using this strategy…
GBPJPY - swing low - 156.86 broke - short trade - took profit of 100 pips
NZDJPY - 62.03 broke - short trade - took profit 100 pips

Stil have positions open – all +++

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I’ve just come across this system and im unsure on a few things. do we set up an order on the new candle after we see that the last 4hr has left a large wick. Or on the same candle? Do you set up orders right at the end of the wick/spike? thanks

I don’t see a line around 153.44. Could you post a picture?

I’ve got 160.45 on the long side and 143.00 on the short. A possible new line is forming at 155.67 but it’s not ready yet.

Does anyone have a link to Nick’s pdf? I searched but can’t find it.

Thanks,
Max