Before a packed TED auditorium filled with traders, fund managers, and ambitious newcomers, the internationally recognized trading strategist Joseph Plazo delivered a message that sent shockwaves through the global trading community:
Retail traders can mirror institutional tactics once thought inaccessible — if they understand the true mechanics behind how banks trade.
Plazo opened with a striking truth:
“The markets aren’t random. They’re engineered. And institutions follow blueprints retail traders never learned.”
He explained that retail traders lose not because they lack intelligence, but because they lack structure, data, and process — the very pillars that define institutional trading desks.
The First Institutional Tactic: Liquidity Targeting
According to Joseph Plazo, institutions don’t chase price — they chase liquidity.
Liquidity is where orders rest.
Liquidity is where algorithms aim.
Liquidity is where reversals are born.
He detailed the institutional logic:
Sweep the high to trigger stops
Absorb orders at discount
Reverse into fair value zones
Control volatility to fill inventory
Plazo emphasized that institutions intentionally drive price into stop pools, inefficiencies, and imbalanced ranges — not because of manipulation, but because that’s where the real volume lies.
“Price is a lure,” Plazo explained. “Liquidity is the meal.”
This liquidity-first mindset forms a core component of the frameworks used at Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital.
Institutional Step Two: Read the Tape
Plazo then turned to order flow, calling it “the heartbeat of institutional intent.”
Retail traders analyze candles.
Institutions analyze transactions.
Plazo revealed how order flow exposes:
Aggressive buyers vs aggressive sellers
Absorption zones before reversals
Delta divergences signaling hidden accumulation
True direction behind deceptive price movements
Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD), footprint imbalances, and bid–ask pressure form the institutional toolkit rarely used by retail traders.
As he put it:
“Order flow shows the argument behind the candle.”
This methodology — a staple of Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital’s AI models — gives traders clarity when charts appear chaotic.
Institutional Step Three: Trade With the Story
Finally, Plazo revealed the most overlooked institutional tactic: narrative alignment.
Markets move on stories — monetary policy, geopolitical tension, liquidity cycles, economic forecasts.
Institutions frame every trade inside a macro narrative:
Is the central bank tightening or loosening?
Is liquidity expanding or contracting?
Is risk-on or risk-off dominating the week?
Is volatility supportive or destructive to the setup?
Plazo summarized it with punch:
“You cannot win the trade if you ignore the story.”
He stressed that retail traders who ignore macro are “playing chess without seeing half the board.”
The Plazo Institutional Mirror Framework
Plazo ended his TED Talk by unveiling a simple but transformative formula — the Institutional Mirror Framework:
Follow liquidity, not price
Read order flow like a bank desk
Trade only inside macro alignment
This framework, used extensively at Plazo Sullivan Roche Capital, allows everyday traders to operate with institutional precision instead of emotional get more info reaction.
A New Age of Intelligent Retail Traders
As the auditorium erupted in applause, one truth became clear:
Retail traders don’t need to gamble. They need the institutional playbook.
And thanks to Joseph Plazo, that playbook is finally being revealed — clearly, powerfully, and for the first time, accessibly.