Mumbai, June 22 :    Mumbai, June 22:  Come Saturday, and its curtains for badla, the hugely popular trading mechanism that allowed the rollover of speculative positions from one settlement to the other. Formally referred to as the carry-forward method of trading, it will run its final lap in the portals of the 126-year-old Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at a session this evening. Loved by audacious brokers and loathed by play-safe investors, no method of playing the stock market has brought so much fortune to so few, and so much misery to so many. It was as ubiquitous on the city's exchanges as its tiffin wallahs. At the height of a boom, it was the darling of operators in a hurry to make money. Outstandings on the badla account were a mind-boggling Rs 6,000 crore at the height of a boom. That changed as soon as stocks plunged. It was cast as one of the main villains which pushed bourses into a tailspin. The 70-year-old badla system has been modified and revised on several occasions as market aberrations emerged. Critics slammed it, while Sebi, the market regulator, tried cleaning it. Starting Monday, badla will be conducted on a daily basis, but the fact that few brokers have the infrastructure to do it means there was hardly be any investors keen on it, BSE officials say. Scores of punters and brokers who used badla will now have to look at individual options as its substitute. It had its supporters and opponents, but it was the critics who prevailed. Its end took a long time to come. Banned for short periods earlier, Sebi bit the bullet and outlawed forever last month. It was make way for rolling settlement to be introduced from July 2. Many on BSE still feel that the ban on badla was a knee-jerk reaction on part of the market regulator. However, many have realised that the adoption of international best practices such as options trading would be the best bet for all. While brokers and punters have plenty to rue about, they can comfort themselves that it will be five-day week now as BSE badla sessions were held on the sixth day, usually a Saturday. Many brokers will be nostalgic about a practice that had become a part of their lives. However, the system has been criticised particularly in recent times for encouraging excessive speculation. The unbridled speculation which had led to the downfall of many high-profile brokers that also resulted in many brokers failing to honour the commitments.