Scalping targets under 2 pips are mostly a bet on the tick grid
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 7:44 pm
If the target is one or two pips, the result has more to do with the spread and the minimum price increment than with the setup.
Price moves in discrete steps. On a five-digit feed the step is a pipette, but quotes jump in clumps, and the clumps get bigger when liquidity is thin. A target 1.5 pips away may sit in a gap that price crosses in a single jump, so the fill lands past the target or short of it by more than the plan assumed.
Then comes the round trip cost. With a spread near half a pip plus commission, a 2 pip target has already lost a quarter or more of its value before any edge shows up. Raise the target to 5 or 6 pips and the same cost becomes a small slice.
That is why many micro-scalping systems that look great in a backtest on mid prices fall apart live. The backtest never paid the grid.
Tiny targets are not impossible, but they need a feed and cost structure that most retail accounts do not get.
What is the smallest target you have found that still survives real costs on your account?
Price moves in discrete steps. On a five-digit feed the step is a pipette, but quotes jump in clumps, and the clumps get bigger when liquidity is thin. A target 1.5 pips away may sit in a gap that price crosses in a single jump, so the fill lands past the target or short of it by more than the plan assumed.
Then comes the round trip cost. With a spread near half a pip plus commission, a 2 pip target has already lost a quarter or more of its value before any edge shows up. Raise the target to 5 or 6 pips and the same cost becomes a small slice.
That is why many micro-scalping systems that look great in a backtest on mid prices fall apart live. The backtest never paid the grid.
Tiny targets are not impossible, but they need a feed and cost structure that most retail accounts do not get.
What is the smallest target you have found that still survives real costs on your account?