Which timeframes do you find most effective for scalping? I’ve heard a lot about the 1-minute and 5-minute charts, but I’m curious if anyone prefers something different.
Certainly the lower time frames are used by scalpers. It’s up to you to choose which works for you best.
When using these lower time frames always try to take into account your brokers spread, as it may be difficult to make a profit if they have a large spread.
scalpers are not using “timeframes,” Maya, because they don’t use charts comprising timed bars at all: they use volume-charts, range-bar charts (or occasionally tick-charts, but if so they’re using tick-charts as a substitute for volume bars anyway); even 1-minute bars would be FAR too slow for scalping! 
15M I guess is the best trade-off between almost pure noise in low timeframes like 1M and low frequency of trades which you should expect on higher timeframes like 1H or 4H. I decided to determine what number of traders I want to make per day and then started to search for the most suitable timeframe.
While scalpers get in and out of the market in short period of time; scalpers are not fixed to a specific timeframe
I’ve saw a guy on youtube scalping the 1hr timeframe; choose the timeframe best for you and inasmuch you’re comfortable with the spreads.
What is the actual official definition of scalping?
not sure there’s a universally recognised one
are sites like Investopedia and Wikipedia good enough for you? they both say it’s a trading style where small price gaps created by the bid-ask spread are exploited by the speculator
whatever your exact definition, two things matter and are relevant -
- it’s about covering the spread
- it’s about support and resistance on very, very fast charts
i’ve remembered a couple of old “inside jokes” from the trade (like many old jokes, they’re based in truth) -
-
what do you call a forex scalper who broke up with his girlfriend?
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how do you get a forex scalper off your front porch?
answers: (1) homeless; (2) pay him for the pizza
