Pivot Boss Reveals His Secrets

Franklin Ochoa is a twelve-year market veteran and manager of the website PivotBoss.com. He is also the author of the book Secrets of a Pivot Boss, which combines the knowledge of contemporary and veteran traders. Benzinga spoke to Ochoa to delve a little deeper into his secrets.

Can you give us a little background about yourself?
I'm based in Austin, Texas. I came here for college in '97 and, about one year into college, I started trading stocks with my student loan. I went on to be a trading intern for Nirvana Systems, a company that creates systems and plug-ins, including Omni Trader and Visual Trader. I wore a lot of hats at Nirvana. My book was published in 2010 and I'm not trading full time and educating traders.

Why did you feel the need to write this book?
That's a good question. Trading is a very different profession and people either learn to do it themselves or alongside a pro. Not everyone has that luxury, so one of the best ways to learn is through books. That's how I got a lot of my education. With my on, I wanted to throw everything out there, including contemporary analysis, and give a bigger head start to the traders.

So who is the book for?
It really runs the whole gamut. It introduces ideas, and then it quickly gets very advanced. So it for all traders, but the complete novice would have a hard time grasping it right away.

Tell us about PivotBoss.com.
It's really a companion blog site to the book. People read and enjoy the book, and then they look me up online. I provide analysis and utilize what I taught in the book, so traders can see those ideas in action. I also started creating DVD and webinar offerings for some of the more advanced techniques and principles that I couldn't go into in the book.

I know you employ many indicators, but which is your most reliable?
I really like market profile levels. I say in the book that there could be many entire books just about market profile levels, but I use them in a manner that is more simplified. There are the three key levels – the point of control and the value areas, and I've really found a clean way to analyze the market. I also use volume-based indicators to get a well-rounded view.

Do you watch any macro news? For example, when Europe is in trouble but your indicators are bullish, which do you reply upon?
I really don't focus on macros too much. I keep abreast of what ios going on by relying on charts.