“I’ve been trying to make sense of technical analysis (imaginary support and resistance, fib retracements and extensions, and what have you) for years and thankfully failed miserably…”

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Dear Michael,

Thank you. I’ve read and immensely enjoyed your fifth edition book Trend Following – How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear, and Black Swan Markets.

So why am I thanking you? I’ve been trying to make sense of technical analysis (imaginary support and resistance, fib retracements and extensions, and what have you) for years and thankfully failed miserably. Further, for almost two decades, I’ve been looking for ways to invest in the financial markets that made sense to me but couldn’t find anything suitable. On the other hand, every single word of your book made absolute sense to me – and hence thank you!

It’s so amazing how trend following concepts are so underrated that I’ve never learned about them until I accidentally came across your book. What makes a bad situation worse is the intentional total disregard of the media of this strategy in their attempt, I would argue, to prop up the buy and hold [read hope] mentality – a strategy that goes hand in hand with the interest of big investment banks and funds that keep chasing investors’ funds to enhance their fees (those same entities that were selling investment products even when they had been well aware that they were failed investments – Charles P. Kindleberger exposes them in his classic book Manias, Panics and Crashes). These very same entities are in charge today unfortunately.

I also enjoyed Larry Hite’s book The Rule which I came to know about through one of your podcasts. From reading his book, you can easily come to conclude how amazing and loving this person is.

I also, thanks to you, read Mark Spitznagel’s book The Dao of Capital. Not a trend following book, but the wisdom in Austrian economics contained in the book is refreshing.

I will leave you with a final thought. As I was reading your book, I was anticipating to read about the trading system (with the pre-conceived idea that, just like other technical “systems”, it wouldn’t make sense to me. By the time I read the last word in the book, I had realized that the system was the investment (and life) philosophy embedded in every word.

Michael – thanks again and if you are ever in Abu Dhabi or Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates), please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best,

Eyad

Thank you!

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