Copyright International Business Times
A recent study revealed that almost 90% of stock market traders experience financial losses during their trading journeys. This statistic highlights the challenges and inherent risks associated with navigating the complexities of the stock market. Against that backdrop, founder Tae Jo started BigShort with the aim to bring traders a clearer view of real-time market dynamics, tracking the price and the live flow of buying and selling as momentum shifts back to the long-term average price. BigShort, which officially launched in 2024, is a trading indicator platform designed to give users greater visibility into live market conditions. The platform integrates stock, options, and dark pool data on a single screen, showing the price movement, directional flow of trades, and buying versus selling volume updated multiple times per second. According to Jo, this difference matters because his system is designed to track the behavior beyond the price history. "The market moves because people act," he says. "When you can actually see where buying and selling pressure is flowing, you can understand whether the market's moving through momentum or snapping back to the mean." In his view, trading success depends on recognizing when those competing forces shift. BigShort aims to visualize that tension in real time, providing a depth of information that Jo describes as essential for day traders. That balance between momentum and mean reversion lies at the heart of Jo's philosophy on technical analysis. "Technical analysis relies on past data, often through lagging indicators, which by definition can only show you things that have already happened. What traders really need are flow-based indicators." He uses a weather analogy to explain the distinction: "If you are trying to predict tomorrow's weather using only the past ten days, you might guess wrong. But if you look at the clouds right above you, you have a much clearer idea of what's coming next. That's what flow-based indicators do, they measure the atmosphere of the market as it exists right now." The platform's charts also highlight data points, such as dark-pool activity and options flow. "Most trades today happen off-exchange in dark pools," Jo notes. "We display those transactions live, along with calls and puts being bought or sold throughout the day." Beyond its analytical features, BigShort includes what Jo refers to as a predictive element, an optional model designed to use historical patterns to forecast likely outcomes. "It looks for chart patterns that resemble what's happening today," he says. "It's about giving traders as much context as possible." According to Jo, one of the prominent tools within the platform is the "Honey Badger Day Indicator," a feature available to premium users that signals potential bullish or bearish days. "It serves as a simple visual cue," He says. "When it appears, traders know it's a high-momentum day." BigShort's development, however, wasn't purely a business pursuit. For Jo, the platform began as a way to refine the same data he used in his own trading. "I built this for myself," he says. "It started as something personal, and then I thought, maybe other traders could benefit from it too." While Jo prefers the focus remain on the technology rather than himself, his background gives BigShort an intriguing foundation. A self-taught developer and lifelong trader, who saw 100% average annualized returns for ten years, beating every Wall Street hedge fund. "I have always been fascinated by systems," he says. "Trading is just another system, one that rewards attention to data." BigShort continues to evolve as Jo incorporates new insights from both the community and the markets themselves. He remains committed to improving how traders understand market flow. "At the end of the day," he says, "I just want people to see the market clearly. When you see what's really happening, everything else starts to make sense."
