Netting and hedging accounts change how a scalp behaves

[Fairman]

Netting and hedging accounts change how a scalp behaves

Platforms that allow hedging let a buy and a sell on the same symbol coexist as separate positions. Netting accounts merge everything into one net position per symbol.

For a scalper, the difference shows up in unexpected ways. Adding to a position on a netting account averages the entry price, and a partial close changes the average in a way that confuses simple scripts. A stop loss attached to the "position" moves with that net, not with the individual entry.

On a hedging account, five scalps are five tickets, each with its own stop and target. Margin gets used for each unless the broker offsets hedged amounts, and brokers differ on whether they do.

Practical differences:

- Scaling in and out is cleaner on a hedging account
- Netting accounts can look neater but make per-trade statistics harder to extract
- Margin on locked positions varies wildly by broker, so testing with small size beats trusting the FAQ

Strategies written for one model sometimes fail quietly on the other. A script that closes "the" position works on netting and closes the wrong ticket on hedging.

Which model did the strategy start on, and was it ever tested on the other?