“I am currently in the process of building my own trend following strategy…”

Feedback in:

Dear Mr. Covel,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am a reader of Trend Following – Revised & Extended Fifth Edition, and I want to thank you for writing a book that fundamentally reshaped how I think about markets, risk, and decision-making. Your work helped me understand that successful trend following is not about prediction, but about discipline, rules, and long-term consistency.

I am currently in the process of building my own trend following strategy system, and I would greatly appreciate your perspective on a few questions.

First, from your experience, what are the most important components for an individual trader to focus on when constructing an effective trend following system? In particular, how should one balance simplicity versus robustness when designing rules for entries, exits, and risk management?

Second, I do not have a background in programming and do not write my own code. Recently, I have been using AI tools to help translate clear, rule-based trend following ideas into systematic strategies. In your view, is this a viable approach for a non-programmer, assuming the trader fully understands the logic, risk parameters, and limitations of the system? Or do you believe that deep coding knowledge is essential to developing and maintaining a reliable trend following process?

I fully understand that no tool or technology can replace discipline, proper position sizing, and the psychological strength required to follow a system through drawdowns. My goal is not to optimize or overfit, but to build a simple, testable, and repeatable process that I can execute consistently over the long term.

Thank you very much for your time and for your continued contribution to the trend following community. Your work has been both inspiring and grounding, and I truly appreciate the clarity you bring to this field.

Kind regards,
Xu Xiao

Thanks for the nice note. I address these issues in my training. That’s where you get my personal support. More details.

More from Michael Covel: Books · Podcast · Trend Following course

Filed under Trend Following