When I am wrong I immediately get out, sometimes it is not even for a lose, if I buy a stock and it did not immediatley go up, then I am out, hopefully at the same price I bought it for. When you are wrong get out! This is what makes scalping work. I trade thinking about how much I can lose on a trade, if I see a 2 cent spread usually I am in the trade. All day long I shoot for 1 or two cent loses.
I said LESS than a point. I'd think that covers pretty much everybody in the world, from penny scalpers to quarter scalpers, from minute trades to hourly trades.
It depends on your stock and its volatility. For instance on a stock like INTC there are usually nice quick moves of 10/15 cents. An average stop would be 3 to 5 cents.
I consider anything under a point as scalping also, that's why it's important to give the details whenever talking about your method. I, also, am more than a little confused by scalping for a penney or 2 at a time. Why? Well, if you've got the skill to do that, you've got the skill to go for bigger chunks. And, the bigger profits to go along with it. Is it because of boredom? That I could understand.
There is no financial dictionary definition for scalping, what makes your definition better than the traders who define it differently? I frequent a chat room (over 200 regulars) that define scalping as anything under a 1/2 point. My methodology is to look for very specific patterns that can give me 1/2 to full point pop in under an hour. I happen to call that scalping. Others don't. My point is, if we are going to have useful discussions here we need to be very specific and avoid using terminology that does not have the same meaning to everybody.
I think when you are talking about making and losing less then 5 cents then this type of scalping is considered "liquidity" trading.
Yes a .90 scalp....back in the day you could've had $2 or $3 scalps......goes to show you that a scalp is in the eye of the beholder....When they used to run 15 20 points u couldnt get out fast enough to only make .90 scalp... peace
It's in the eye of the beholder and depends on your experience. For daniel_m, a .90 cent profit is a once in a lifetime grand slam home run. For me, it was a very good scalp.