Mario Soto Jr
Builds the systems he trades on.
Experience Matters
Born and raised in New York. Cut his teeth in late-90s Wall Street, working in banking IT inside secure environments that required background checks and the kind of trust you have to earn. Side-hustled as a runner on trading floors when the opportunity came up. This was before everything went electronic, when the market still had a pulse you could feel and the floor still had people yelling on it. He saw how the machinery actually moved, from the wiring on up.
Roots
Wall Street Beginnings
Worked IT inside secure banking environments. The kind of access you don't get without a background check and a track record. On the side, ran tickets between firms and exchanges back when that was still a job a human did. Saw how money, orders, and infrastructure actually move. Saw what holds up under pressure and what doesn't.
Market Maker
Fast forward a couple of decades. Building systems in the futures markets, a few guys in the trading circle started calling him "Market Maker Mario" as a joke. He didn't pick it. They did. The name stuck because the work behind it earned it. He kept it because, honestly, it's a pretty good name.
Who is Market Maker Mario?
Two chapters, one through-line. Grew up in 80s New York, which teaches you a few things they don't put in textbooks. Spent the late 90s in Wall Street banking IT, working inside secure environments that required clearance and trust, with runner work on trading floors on the side.
The technical foundation was already in place before the market went fully electronic. Years later, that foundation became the toolkit for building proprietary risk frameworks, execution systems, and trading tools for the futures markets. Peers started calling him "Market Maker Mario." Started as a joke. The architecture behind it made it stick.
Dual Expertise
Silver Panda Group
Silver Panda Group is the operation behind the systems. Advanced market mechanics, low-latency infrastructure, and multi-account ecosystems for private futures execution. Everything here is built for one purpose. To run the business. Not to sell it as a service. That's why it actually works.
The systems are run live, every day, by the person who built them. That feedback loop is why they keep evolving.
Technical Focus
Proprietary systems. Built in-house. Run live.
Custom Software
Algorithmic tools and market architecture built in Pine Script and NinjaScript. A few are public. The rest stay in-house.
Risk Architecture
Proprietary risk engines for session compliance and drawdown control. Built around one rule: don't blow up the account.
Trading Infrastructure
Multi-account ecosystems and automated execution environments. Built for live trading, not pitch decks.
Shell Session Structure
Initial Balance, ORB, and Macro Opens
The Shell Suite
A growing family of session-structure and institutional pricing tools for futures traders. Two are public. The rest stay in the shop.
A modular intraday tool for futures, forex, and equities traders working in session-based auction theory. Combines Initial Balance, Opening Range Breakout, IB projections, structural levels (PDH/PDL/PWH/PWL/PMH/PML), and NY Midnight / 8:30 ET macro opens into one lightweight indicator.
Built with smart-merge logic, DST-protected sessions, and a live dashboard tracking IB Range, ORB Range, ATR, CDR, and Day Type classification.
Shell Master Ratio Suite
GLD-GC Institutional Audit
A specialized pricing tool for Gold Futures (GC) traders. Tracks the GLD/GC ratio to project seven institutional reaction zones — Walls, Ceilings, Medians, and Floors — directly onto the chart.
Features a dynamic audit dashboard that captures the 4:00 PM RTH close and 5:00 PM settlement ratios, with manual override controls for both ratio and price levels. Includes high-contrast colorblind mode.