Scalping in Forex, despite being one of the most technically and psychologically challenging trading styles, has long enjoyed well-deserved popularity. Naturally, expert advisor developers have embraced this approach as well. Today, traders have access to an overwhelming variety of paid and free scalping robots based on different principles and strategies. Some operate only during specific hours, while others trade continuously. Some advisors perform better, others worse, but typically scalpers show profits over a certain period, followed by a quiet phase and then a series of losing trades.
Sometimes, the software implementation of a scalping strategy in an expert advisor can become so extreme that it leads to the broker closing the trading account where it is installed. Let’s review the rules you need to follow to keep everything in order.
Rule #1. Scalping Only at the Right Time
First and foremost, it’s important to understand that increased volatility is the scalping advisor’s primary enemy. These advisors prefer calm market conditions, so if the price forms long candles, which usually happens during overlapping sessions, you should disable the advisor’s trading, wait for a quiet phase, and only then resume scalping.
This also applies significantly to economic calendar events. Even novice traders know that volatility can spike dramatically before major economic news releases, so an advisor trading during these times can easily cause losses to your deposit.
For robots that trade only during specific hours (usually night scalpers), the GMT Offset parameter is important, reflecting the difference between your broker’s time and Greenwich Mean Time. This parameter should be checked regularly, especially during daylight saving time changes.
On Fridays, when the trading week ends, and during the last 2-3 days of the month, large market participants often close positions. This period is also unsuitable for scalping robots, as testing any scalping advisor will clearly show.
Rule #2. When “Less” Means “Better”
The second, equally important point is the choice of Forex broker, or more precisely, selecting a suitable spread on the currency pair the scalping advisor trades, the commission size (if any), and the order execution speed.
Before deploying a robot on a live account, verify all these conditions. Naturally, the lower these costs and delays are, the more comfortable the scalping advisor will perform.
Rule #3. Don’t Skip Testing Your Advisor
Besides trading conditions, you must pay attention to the advisor itself. Using testing results, you need to understand the logic behind the robot, what take-profit and stop-loss sizes it sets, how many trades it opens, and how long it keeps them open.
Take the time to test the advisor in a strategy tester, keeping the spread size in mind. For example, if a scalper sets stop-losses of 500-1000 pips, this hardly fits the definition of scalping. A scalping robot’s stop-loss should not exceed 150-200 points (depending on the currency pair), otherwise, it becomes a robot that holds trades too long rather than a true scalper.
If the duration of trades opened by the advisor is no more than 1-2 minutes, be prepared that your Forex broker might block your trading account. It’s better to discuss this with your account manager in advance to confirm whether the company allows servicing such accounts.
Pay attention to the average profit per trade. It should be at least 5 points. The number of trades— the more, the better. If the tester shows very few trades, it may indicate that the results are simply curve-fitted to historical data.
However, remember that testing results are not the ultimate truth, and actual future trading results may differ.
