Teaching someone to scalp: the parts that shouldn't be simplified
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2026 1:07 pm
When a friend asks how to scalp, it's tempting to boil it down to a setup: "buy the pullback to the 20 EMA after the London open". Simple advice spreads quickly. It's also how people lose their first account.
The bits that resist simplification:
Cost. With a 5-pip target and 1 pip all-in cost, 20% of the expected gain goes to the broker before anything else. Beginners rarely do this math.
Session context. The same setup at 08:05 and 11:45 UK is a different trade. Liquidity and volatility change hour by hour.
Sample size. Ten trades say nothing. A hundred say a little.
Losing streaks. With a 55% win rate, six losses in a row will happen several times a year. Someone who hasn't been told that will think the method is broken.
Execution. Slippage, rejects and spread spikes are not theory. They show up on the first news day.
It might be better to start a newcomer on a demo with one pair, one session and a cost log, and only discuss setups after a month.
If you've taught someone, what did you insist on that they initially found boring?
The bits that resist simplification:
Cost. With a 5-pip target and 1 pip all-in cost, 20% of the expected gain goes to the broker before anything else. Beginners rarely do this math.
Session context. The same setup at 08:05 and 11:45 UK is a different trade. Liquidity and volatility change hour by hour.
Sample size. Ten trades say nothing. A hundred say a little.
Losing streaks. With a 55% win rate, six losses in a row will happen several times a year. Someone who hasn't been told that will think the method is broken.
Execution. Slippage, rejects and spread spikes are not theory. They show up on the first news day.
It might be better to start a newcomer on a demo with one pair, one session and a cost log, and only discuss setups after a month.
If you've taught someone, what did you insist on that they initially found boring?