moves during the day that the scalper can use to make a profit. Risk management Rather than looking for one big trade, the way a trend trader might, the scalper looks for hundreds of small profits throughout the day. In this process the scalper might also take hundreds of small losses during the same time period. For this reason a scalper must have very strict risk management that never allows losses to accumulate too much. Fraudulent use by adviser and social media stock promotion Scalping in this sense is the practice of purchasing a security for one's own account shortly before recommending that security for investment and then shortly thereafter selling the security at a profit upon the rise in the market price following the recommendation. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that scalping by an investment adviser operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client and is a violation of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The prohibition on scalping has been applied against persons who are not registered investment advisers, and it has been ruled that scalping is also a violation of Rule 10b-5 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 if the scalper has a relationship of trust and confidence with the persons to whom the recommendation is made. The Securities and Exchange Commission has stated that it is committed to stamping out scalping schemes. Scalping is analogous to front running, a similar improper practice by broker-dealers. It is also similar to but differs from conventional pumping and dumping, which usually does not involve a relationship of trust and confidence between the fraudster and their victims. Scalping schemes involving social media stock promoters have become a significant focus of both civil and criminal enforcement in the United States in recent years as the use of Twitter and other social media networks has allowed online stock promoters to tout stocks and then sell them on their followers after their stock promotion campaigns cause a spike in the share price. References External links Introduction To Types Of Trading: Scalpers at Investopedia Arbitrage Share trading