The stock market is currently volatile, there’s no doubt about that. Over the last few weeks and months, we’ve seen sharp fluctuations driven by numerous factors, including shifting interest rate policies and, perhaps most crucially, the renewed tensions surrounding US tariffs.
Just last month, for instance, stock giant Nvidia announced a $5.5 billion charge, which reflected the new requirement to obtain a special licence before exporting AI chips to China, and as a result, the market responded. Nvidia’s stock experienced a significant decline, dropping nearly 7% in a single day.
In line with this, AMD – Advanced Micro Devices – reported an anticipated $800 million revenue hit, with its own stock falling by 7%, while The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined by over 5%. This is just a single example of how quickly things are shifting in the current market, but it’s not necessarily a huge cause for concern.
Not only are some prospects for the stock market positive – with some experts suggesting the landscape will become more opportunity-rich as early as 2026 – investing in a volatile market is something a lot of traders thrive on. These are known as ‘scalpers’, and it’s their strategies we’re going to take a look at today.
If you’re involved in the stock market and you want to continue to make returns even when the market is volatile, scalping could be the perfect strategy to consider. Designed to capitalise on small, frequent price movements throughout the trading day, the goal here isn’t to ride major trends but to make tiny profits repeatedly, with opportunities in a fluctuating market occurring dozens, if not hundreds, of times a day.
But that’s not to say it’s easy. There are several strategies you should know about if you’re dipping into the scalping-verse, with many of them likely to prove crucial in determining your success or failure.
Insights
One of the most important things scalpers consider is the quality and speed of their information. In scalping, where profits are often just a few cents per trade, having real-time market insights isn’t just useful, it’s an essential part of being successful.
That’s why scalpers rely on platforms such as Exness, which provide up-to-the-second data, along with sentiment analysis and algorithm-driven signals to help traders spot opportunities as they emerge. Learning how to trade as a scalper is difficult, but with the right tools on your side, there’s every chance you can level the playing field and carve out your own edge sooner rather than later.
Timing
As a scalper, it’s also crucial that you get your timings right. One particular scalping strategy – see Exness for example), for instance, involves trading during “power hours”, which refer to the first and last thirty minutes of a trading session, when volume and volatility typically spike. By doing this, you’re giving yourself more chances to catch strong price movements fuelled by institutional activity, earnings, and reactions.
During power hours, of course, liquidity is going to be higher, which means spreads are tighter. As a result, price action tends to be more predictable, which is a major advantage if you’re new to the realm of scalping and are looking to attain some consistency. That’s not to say that power hours are a guaranteed win, of course. Platforms like Exness are still going to be crucial for efficiently executing trades and managing risk. But for those wanting a little more of a guarantee, power hours can be a great time to start.
Range Scalping
For some scalpers, another strategy involves range scalping with pivot points, which can be calculated based on the previous day’s high, low, and close prices. The way this strategy works is by identifying key price levels where the market is likely to bounce, such as support and resistance levels, and then executing trades as the price moves between these levels. Pivots, of course, are commonly used by institutional traders, which means scalpers can piggyback these zones for quick fades, or even take advantage of reversals.
1-Minute Scalping
With the above strategy in mind, however, it’s important to note that these tactics are usually reserved for experienced scalpers – those who have been scalping for numerous years, and know how to handle the complicated nature of these trades. A better option for relative newcomers is 1-minute scalping, which offers a less stressful approach revolving solely around a 1-minute chart.
The goal here is to open and close trades within one minute or less, focusing on frequent, quick trades with fewer indicators and simpler setups. There’s less need to manage a market structure here – in many ways, because there simply isn’t time to! The key is to capitalise on fleeting volatility within a minute without holding positions for too long, avoiding exposure to larger, unpredictable price swings that would be more damaging for range scalpers.
5-Minute Scalping
Following on from this, we should quickly mention the 5-minute scalping strategy, which is slightly more relaxed than the 1-minute method. If you’re more inclined to analyse price action and make informed decisions within a lengthier time frame, this strategy can give you that space, cutting down just a little bit on the extreme volatility of the 1-minute chart.
Breakouts
Another common strategy in scalping is known as “micro breakout scalping”, which refers to small price breakouts that happen within short time frames. Unlike larger, more traditional breakouts that might happen over several hours or days, micro breakouts typically occur within seconds, triggered by key technical levels or sudden shifts in market sentiment.
In this strategy, traders look for price movements just beyond significant support or resistance levels, expecting the price to make a small jump in the direction of the breakout before retracing. During periods of high volatility, this can be very effective, especially for those using a combination of short-term and long-term EMAs – exponential moving averages – to identify the trend direction.
Momentum
Lastly, one of the most popular strategies in 2025 has been momentum scalping. This usually focuses on strong and sudden movements in the market, utilising news releases, economic data, or unexpected market reactions to identify trends just as they’re gaining momentum. Once the trends are identified, it’s your job to catch the initial move and then quickly scalp small profits before the momentum dies away.
While it can be more time consuming – you have to consistently keep an eye on market news and data – it can be incredibly rewarding if executed correctly. But you have to be ready to make the commitment. Just as it is with all the strategies we’ve mentioned, when it comes to scalping, the emphasis is on you to take it seriously, and remember that every second counts.
