So you want to scalp on M1
Scalping on M1 is popular because we have brokers with good conditions for this (commissions, spreads).
Whether you can make money scalping on M1 is a question that depends on strategy and risk management.
Oh, and capital because scalping with small capital is hard (but possible).
In this post I write about strategies that, in my experience, make sense.
This is not a full guide but more of an overview.
I will post links to sources where you can find the best information on a particular strategy.
The purpose of the post is to direct you to a slightly different path than you’ll find in tutorials on Instagram or popular investment portals.
Scalping on M1 is cool but you need to have a solid strategy and risk management. I hope you’ll find some ideas here.
The basis of the strategies – cooperation with higher time frames
All the strategies described above make sense if you are good at reading charts from higher time frames.
There are several different approaches, but I mainly prefer three scenarios described below.
This is really important, so I’ll emphasize it again. If you’re hoping to build a system that relies solely on M1 data and does not take into account information from higher time frames, then you are really choosing the hardest possible path.
Approach one – reversal from a higher time frame
In this approach, we assume a change in the direction of movement.
We don’t know if it’s a change for longer or shorter. Here I prefer to base on higher time frames like 30M, H1, H4.
Example: The current trend is upward. I mark the last low and high on M30. Now I know that if the price on M1 goes below red level, I will look for a short position beacuse I know that we have a reversal.
Approach two – continuation from a higher time frame
Here I usually mean continuation on M5, M15 and M30 charts.
How does this work in practice?
As always I mark high and low levels of previous candle from higher time frame.
If the main trend is up and price manage to move above previous high then it means that we possibly have a continuation move.
Why We Do This – Avoid Inside Bar Action (on Higher Time Frame)
We want to scalp when movements are strong.
Of course, there are strategies that work well in a range market.
If you identify a wider range move on a higher time frame, you can utilize it.
However, remember that we are talking about scalping on M1.
If we are dealing with an inside bar on a higher time frame – for example, there is an inside bar on M5 at the moment like below:
Then we can expect chaotic movements in both directions on M1.
But often, they will have a short range as they are within that inside bar from M5.
And to make a profit, we need a movement of at least 2 pips.
We have a much better chance of this if the movement was strong enough to break the previous high or low from M5.
Three Strategies Worth Checking Out
Okay, we’ve touched on higher time frames.
Thanks to them, we know in which direction to look for transactions.
Now it’s time to determine the moment of entry.
This we will do on M1.
The strategies described below can be helpful.
3 Candle Reversal
In short, the strategy involves looking for entries based on three candles.
Read more here: https://www.3candlereversal.com/post/three-candle-reversals-3cr
The Strat
A strategy created by Rob. May involves three types of movements: 1 – Inside bar 2 – Continuation 3 .
For beginners, I recommend sources like Sarah’s cheat sheet and many video materials on YouTube:
Inside Bar
RSI Histogram
Instruments
In scalping on M1, spreads are very important.
Ideally, they should be close to zero.
If spreads are too large, even the best scalping strategy won’t be profitable.
Cost of Trading
Similarly important here are trading costs.
When commissions are too high, scalping will be unprofitable.
For example, you can find brokers offering spreads close to zero on Bitcoin.
Okay, thanks to this, we can scalp on M1 on Bitcoin.
However, every position opening involves a commission fee for the broker.
And since our take profit is quite close in scalping, usually, each position is unprofitable, even if you were right about the direction and the take profit realized a profit.
Oscillators and 1 Minute Scalping
Briefly, I also wanted to touch on the subject of oscillators in M1 scalping.
I don’t really see the point in trying scalping on M1 with their help. In my opinion, it’s a waste of time.
To be successful, the foundation is verifying the situation on higher time frames and looking for signals based on price action on M1.
Strategies like The Strat, 3CR, or classic pin bars work well.
No oscillator will give us a faster signal than those based on price action.
To be clear – I’m not saying it’s not possible. It’s not that I’m quite anti on the topic of using oscillators in scalping (example).
I will advise one thing here.
If you want to use an oscillator in scalping on M1 then take the time to learn about this tool:
- understand how it works,
- what logic is behind the signal line,
- when are the input/output signals.
In this case, if you understand the principle of the oscillator and you think it will be helpful to you then sure – it can help you in scalping on M1.
However, if you think you can add just any oscillator you’ve heard of to the M1 chart and blindly follow its signals, it won’t work.
