If you are looking for the best Forex pair to scalp on 1-minute time frame then your choices are severely limited.
First let’s establish what are the basic assumptions of scalping on M1:
- you are looking for opportunities to close the position after a few minutes
- bigger movements can be expected during major news and these are several times a month
- usually you aim at a movement of a few, max. dozen pips
Trading cost
With such assumptions where you aim for a quick and short movement, trading costs are important:
- spread
- commission for opening and closing positions
These costs of spread will vary from one broker to another, but usually they will be similar (lower costs for majors, higher for exotic pairs).
Next there is the cost of commissions which should be around $3 per lot.
Let’s say that your strategy is to take profit after a movement of the size of 1 pip. You backtested it and you have the best win ratio.
In reality, with most currency pairs you don’t have a chance to make a profit with such a scalping strategy.
Let’s say the spread on pair X is 0.7 pips, on top of that we have $3 per lot commission.
At the start you are at a loss even with a 1 pip “profit” movement.
Even with pairs that have a small spread of 0.2-0.3 plus commission costs, you may still find it hard to make a profit.
So you have to aim for a bigger move, but then it is possible that your strategy will perform much worse (when you increase your take profit from 1 pip to let’s say 2-5 pips).
Ok, so the question of the best Forex pairs for scalping on the M1 chart. You have to choices:
1) your strategy is to take profit quickly, after a few pips.
Then you are limited to the majors, ideally with a spread of the size of 0-0.1.
In this case, you are looking for a broker with such conditions, which also has low commissions.
2) your strategy is to take profit after +5 pips.
Then your choice is a little wider. Still forget about exotic pairs that have a spread of 10-20 pips on a good day.
On the other hand, in addition to the most important 4 major pairs you have a choice of other interesting ones like pairs eurjpy, gbpjpy, euraud and so on.
As you can see, the choice when scalping on Forex on M1 is not particularly great, but you can find something that works for you.
The most important thing is the choice of broker
This will often have a decisive impact on the results of your scalping.
As I mentioned, you are looking for a broker with a low spread, low commission. Of course also one that has a good reputation and did not start business a month ago in Barbados.
On top of that, good trading conditions are important, no strange behavior during news publication, etc.
It is known that during the publication of data the spread can increase, but when you compare the differences between brokers, you can sometimes wipe your eyes with surprise at what is happening at some of them.
Finding such a broker requires effort on your part, but it will definitely pay off in the future. What I would advise is:
- reasearch brokers, see who has what offer, trading conditions,
- narrow down to 2-3-4 best brokers,
- open a real account, fund the account with a smaller amount and test several brokers in parallel/alternately for a few weeks. Eventually you can check the conditions first on a demo, but when it comes to the final choice between 2 brokers I recommend two real accounts.
Best pairs for 1-minute time frame scalping
The best pairs for scalping are those with the lowest spreads at brokers with attractive commissions. These will be:
- eurusd
- usdjpy
- usdchf
- nzdusd
- audusd
- usdcad
- gbpusd
If your strategy gives you the opportunity to catch slightly larger movements of 5-10 pips then in addition to the above you can consider:
- eurgbp
- audchf
- audjpy
- eurjpy
- gbpjpy
- nzdjpy
- and other similar
