Scalping
Very short-duration trading — seconds to a few minutes per position — aimed at capturing small price movements repeatedly.
Definition
Scalping is a style of trading defined by holding positions for seconds to a few minutes and targeting small price moves (5 to 20 pips in forex, a few ticks in futures). A scalper takes 20 to 100+ trades per session, each risking and targeting a small amount, with returns built on cumulative volume rather than per-trade edge. Prop firm treatment of scalping varies widely: some firms allow it without restriction, others ban positions held less than 30 seconds or 1 minute, others cap the number of trades per day or require a minimum trade duration to count toward minimum-trading-days requirements.
Example
Why It Matters
Scalping rules are the most variable restriction across prop firms and the most commonly misunderstood. A firm marketing itself as 'scalping-friendly' may still disallow specific sub-strategies like tick scalping, news scalping, or HFT-style automated scalping. Minimum hold times, if they exist, are often not surfaced in marketing and only show up in the rulebook. Scalpers evaluating firms should look for explicit minimum hold times, maximum trades per day, and any latency-based restrictions before committing to an evaluation fee.