Definition
What is Scalping?
Scalping is a short-term trading style that aims to capture small price moves with many trades held for seconds to minutes.
Scalpers trade the most liquid instruments and sessions, using small stops and small targets. Because each trade makes little, the edge has to repeat many times.
Costs are the main challenge: the spread and commission are paid on every trade, so they take a much larger share of a 5-pip target than of a 50-pip one.
Prop firms usually allow scalping based on genuine analysis but ban its extreme forms: tick scalping, high-frequency trading and bots that open and close positions in seconds.
Example
Example: a scalper targets 5 pips on 1 lot of EURUSD ($50) with a 1-pip spread ($10) and $7 round-turn commission. Costs take $17, about a third of the gross target.
At a prop firm
The Axora Funded terms prohibit tick scalping, high-frequency trading and automated trading. On paid accounts covered by the conduct rules, if more than half of the trades (from 10 trades) are held under 30 seconds, the account is suspended, and orders are limited to 10 per minute.
Frequently asked questions
Is scalping allowed at Axora Funded?
Manual short-term trading based on your own analysis is allowed; tick scalping, HFT and bots are not.
How long should a scalp trade last?
At Axora Funded, keep the majority of trades open longer than 30 seconds to stay clear of the anti-bot check.