Name: Bala

Web Site: http://implicittrading.blogspot.com/

Bio: I'm an intraday Futures & Equities Scalp Trader. I'm at my best when engaged in an intra-day market conversation. My average holding period is 39 mins and I average 5 "round trip" positions per day. I use Relative Volume, Momentum, Intraday Structure, Sentiment, Volume Profile and Market Context to trade. Up until four years ago, I was a comedy commercial and music video director. Oddly, my experiences in production proved to be highly valuable for day trading.


Posts by Bala:

    Exploiting The Exploiters – Working With Algorithmic & Program Traders

    Written by Bala
    June 3rd, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    Click here for VIDEO
    Trade Details:
    THC, Tenet Health Care
    Reversion Trade Strategy aka The Bollinger Band Crash Trade
    Time in Market: Less than 17 Hours
    Profit: +7%

    Commentary, Market Profile, Markets, Video | No Comments

    Annotating Trades – Real Time

    Written by Bala
    May 27th, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Long ATPG  05/27/10 14:03 EST

    *I blocked out my position size because I’m still in it.

    Out ATPG – Target Reached  05/27/10 15:45 EST

    Charts, Market Indicators, Market Profile, Markets | No Comments

    WHX, 2 Trades, 2 Strategies (1 Scalp, 1 Rounded Reversal)

    Written by Bala
    May 18th, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    Charts, Market Indicators, Markets | No Comments

    Initiating Shorts – (stating the obvious)

    Written by Bala
    May 17th, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    A quick assessment of market internals an hour into the open confirms (imo) the risk is being long and the opportunity is being short. 
     
     
    Update: Selling pressure overwhelms

    Breadth, Charts, Commentary, Market Profile, Markets, TICK, VWAP | No Comments

    What’s Working and What’s Not

    Written by Bala
    May 14th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

     **I am writing this from the perspective of an intraday trader**

    All other analysis aside:

    Since last Thursday’s crash not all tools/algos have yet to fully recover.  I’ve spoken to quite a few traders and few are experiencing similar occurrences.  Many have expressed an aversion to actively trading the current market.  Last Thurs. has clearly produced a lot of collateral damage.
     
    What’s working: 
    Trading the opening range(s) sparingly
    Allowing the stock to drop through support before getting long for quick scalps 
    Rumors
    Shorting bounces within down-trending stocks (duh’)
    Trading multi-day Ranges (with reduced targets) when the broad market is otherwise chopping sideways
    Identifying (even) macro themes
    Reduced position sizing and increased pre-trade discretion.
    Gold & Silver related instruments 

    What’s not working:
    Risk
    Trades that require a more two sided market

    Commentary, Market Indicators, Market Profile, Market Sentiment, Markets, Precious Metals | No Comments

    Scalping Trading Technique

    Written by Bala
    May 5th, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO DEMONSTRATION, SCALPING TRADING TECHNIQUE

    GES – Technique Demonstration



    Charts, Market Indicators, Markets | No Comments

    Establishing Credibility

    Written by Bala
    April 29th, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    Those who frequent this blog know that I don’t mind showing my trades.   I believe it helps the reader better understand the concepts presented while also helping demonstrate the candid quality of information I strive to display.    

    In an effort to further establish credibility, I’m going to post my my entries and exits so the reader can better review my trades.  In the next few weeks, I will be bringing to market a trading system that is specifically designed for the retail day trader.  The trades displayed on this site will be actual trades from the beta system. 

    The system is not a ‘black box’. It does not employ proprietary indicators and there is no stock list to subscribe to or any other gimmicks.  95% of charting platforms provide the tools you’ll need to trade the system with confidence and consistency.  It is a hybrid of discretionary and system based trading grounded in what I call “The Three Vs”  Volatility, Volume, & Velocity.

    It is my opinion that there is too much misinformation out there with regard to the role a retail day trader can have in the markets.  Often, many novice traders seek to trade instruments and methods that are not necessarily the best suited for their position in the “food chain”.   For example, I know many traders who trade strategies employed by many larger funds yet are working with as little as 30K.  Of course this is absolutely fine but if you really want to make a living trading, it has been my experience you need to trade instruments and methods that offer better profit opportunity.  When a market’s inefficiencies have been all but resolved, opportunity (profit potential) will be greatly minimized (I find this to be the case for the ES, AMZN, AAPL and other names lately).

    I will not be creating a venue where traders can interact with each other intra-day.  Slope of Hope, Evil Speculator, Trading to Win, Corba’s Market View, Hot Option Babe, Afraidtotrade, and many more do a very good job of providing a venue where traders can learn and discuss ideas. 

    My hope is that the Beginner – Intermediate trader will have yet another very useful tool to help further their trading business.    

    Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
    HERE

    Best,

    Joey
    Implicit Trading
    aka Bala

    Below is a small trade I took today.  As you can see, there is nothing too complicated. While the overall profit potential was minimal (est. +2%), trading similar set-ups 4 or 5 times per day adds up very quickly.

    Markets | No Comments

    Charts in Review

    Written by Bala
    April 28th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    http://www.screencast.com/users/BalaB50/folders/Jing/media/11e37a6b-8549-4cb8-8a57-acce4342260d

    Charts, Commentary, Market Profile, Markets | No Comments

    A Distinctive Lack of Volatility & Volume

    Written by Bala
    April 26th, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    One of the caveats of being an intra-day scalper is that opportunity will be lacking without heightened levels of Volume & Volatility.  While Volume and Volatility is a fundamental criteria for many trading systems, the intra-day scalper is especially reliant on these conditions. 

    This being the case, how does an intra-day trader find clues that are often symptomatic of low opportunity?  The quickest and least intensive method I’ve found in gauging the markets’ appetite for risk or risk aversion is $TICK and $ADD.   Indeed, these indicators have been discussed at length (especially for ES and SPY traders) but there continues to be a lot of misunderstanding as to how these tools can provide benefit for the intra-day scalper. 

    The most important take away when reviewing the below image is to notice how truncated both $ADD (very tight range) and $TICK (No readings in excess of +/-800) are.  Additionally, NYSE down volume out swamped up volume by a healthy amount (see image) even though NYSE advancers were beating decliners.   Its been my experience that when these conditions (or “cross currents”) are present, the market will demonstrate lower amounts of enthusiasm and thus become more problematic to trade.

    This is not to say one cannot make money (you can) but to do so, requires additional discretion.

    Breadth, Charts, Commentary, Markets, TICK | No Comments

    Done Early – Caveats of A System

    Written by Bala
    April 19th, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    One of the caveats of trading my methods is that when the market becomes too “one sided” (especially downward) my odds of success tends to suffer.   Essentially, when Swing Trading becomes the better method in capturing opportunity, its more profitable for me to stay sidelined (or only trade the most ideal set-ups).

    That is not to say, I don’t sell bounces or buy dips (which I’ll do when conditions are ripe).  However. when large market participants are demonstrating significant directional sentiment, the ‘give and take’ of the market is reduced.  Without that ‘tug of war’, bounces (or dips) become predicated on very low volume.  And if there’s any criteria that I hold most dear, its Volume.  No Volume = No Trade

    Journal Entry – 04/19/10

    The Financial ETF, XLF was quick to bounce this morning, trading up as much as+2.0% from the open.  C was leading the advance on better than expected earnings.

    While this was initially a positive sign for buyers, I inspected the tape a little deeper, and found a less than enthusiastic TICK distribution.  Yes, we did see some moderately strong buying pressure but it was not demonstrating signs of sustainability.  Furthermore, trade set-ups (for my trading methods) we’re hard to come by and the ones that did materialize we’re considerably less than stellar. 

    By 11:30 most of the core sectors and major averages lost much of their gains.  At 11:54 TICK registered -1400.  The bounce that followed was lackluster so I packed it in. 
     
    IWM & Qs handily broke through Friday’s lows while DIA and SPY maintained a bit of relative strength. 

    With the R2K and NDX100 leading the downside and little follow through on the bounces, better for me to pack it in and preserve the day’s profits rather than risk it on a crappy trade set-up.

    Commentary, Market Indicators, Market Sentiment, Markets | No Comments

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