Scalping aims to profit from the smallest possible price moves, often a single tick, repeated many times. It relies on liquid markets where your orders are matched quickly and the gap between the back and lay price is one tick.
The numbers
At 3.0, one tick is 0.02. Backing £100 at 3.0 and laying at 2.98 greens about £0.67 before commission. Commission and the occasional trade that runs against you by several ticks can wipe out many small wins.
Where it's possible
Scalping needs the busiest markets, typically favourites in big-field races in the final 10 minutes. On our race pages, money matched per runner before the off shows where the liquidity actually is.
Common failure modes
- Getting half-matched and leaving a position open.
- Chasing a losing trade instead of closing it.
- Ignoring commission when judging whether a strategy works.