How small an account can scalping really support?

[Shadow Trader]

Scalping on a very small account is difficult, and the reason is mostly arithmetic. Costs per trade are roughly fixed in pips, while the profit per trade scales with position size.

On a hundred-dollar account, a position size that risks one percent per trade is tiny. Profit of three pips on a micro lot is a few cents, while the spread and commission take a large proportion of it. Rounding on commission and minimum lot sizes can make it worse.

Larger positions overcome the arithmetic but increase risk. A trader on a small account who uses heavy leverage to make the pips meaningful exposes themselves to rapid losses.

The honest view is that very small accounts can be used to learn and test execution, but expecting meaningful income from them is unrealistic.

Calculating the net result after costs for a typical month, using realistic size and the actual fee structure, shows the answer in concrete terms. Many traders are surprised at how little remains.

Some brokers offer cent accounts where one lot is a hundredth of a standard lot, which allows small accounts to trade with realistic proportions. The cost structure on such accounts may be different, so the same arithmetic needs repeating with their actual fees.

What is the smallest account size at which your strategy still makes sense after costs?