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Good afternoon!

Thank you for your kind note. I recently read The Complete TurtleTrader and started listening to your podcast, which I thoroughly enjoy. I especially appreciated the episodes with Richard Thaler and Daniel Kahneman—I’m an experimental psychologist, so I’m familiar with their academic work.

I began learning to trade just a few months ago and am trying to develop strategies that fit my circumstances. I have no prior market experience, having only contributed to retirement accounts managed by advisors, so I’m truly starting from the ground up. My goal now is to learn how to invest independently to achieve better returns. The biggest challenge is the steep learning curve, but I find trend following appealing since it allows me to trade without needing deep company or market research.

I’ve written a simple stock-screening algorithm in JavaScript based using the Turtle Trading rules and have started making some trades. So far it seems promising, though I do wonder whether it’s too late to learn to trade effectively at the age of 55, given I don’t have 20 years to master the craft.

Currently I focus on equities but am also considering commodities and crypto. I also wonder whether I should adhere to the original Turtle rules or whether the strategy has been modernized. I’m particularly interested in the exit rules used by current trend followers.

I truly appreciate your podcast and will continue to tune in. If you can recommend additional resources—such as online communities for learning and support—I’d be very grateful.

Kind Regards,
Ben

I can help on all fronts. Drop me an email. This is not about 20 years to learn. No way.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
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• Crisis Times
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Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.

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Been following you for years, including purchasing of your books, including first editions. Have also subscribed to your online course. Funny I was listening to a guy named Tim Melvin, who used to be with Investors Alley but left to do his own thing with Substack. He does a lot of Bank stock analysis in other investing. However, recently he was going over his top 20 books for people to read for an investing or trading foundation. In the top 20 he put your book Trend Following. Just thought I’d let you know.

John P.

Thanks!

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
• Research
• Markets to Trade
• Crisis Times
• Trading Technology
• About Us

Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.

Subscribe to Trend Following Radio on iTunes

Please enjoy my monologue Technical Analysis is Mostly Bullshit with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio.

Listen to this episode:

• Listen to this podcast on iTunes. (Please leave a rating!)
• Listen on Spotify.
• Libysn RSS.
• Download as MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
• Free Video.

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Once again I must say thanks for this eye opener truth.

It’s really hitting the nails on their heads.

Mike, what is your view on saying that trend following is price action strategy just like Smart Money Concept but SMC is a lens for both?

Albert

I don’t know what that means.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
• Research
• Markets to Trade
• Crisis Times
• Trading Technology
• About Us

Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.

Feedback in:

Hi Michael,

Hope this finds you well!

I’m catching up on your podcasts slowly, finding each more informative than the last.

Wanted to pick your brain briefly; I began my Trend Following system in January of this year, using a slightly modified turtles system (entry on 10 day breakouts, exit on 5 day, unit size at 0.8% of account, pyramiding up to 5 units per security, and a total risk limit of 12 units open per direction). I started this setup after 6 months of extensive backtesting on a 25 year market history across 20 securities, and found that the quicker entries and exits allowed me to catch more trends, and to capture more of each trend at its beginning and end. This allowed (in the backtest) for superior returns, and shortened (and less severe) drawdowns.

Since January, my account has gone from £50k to around £17k. I am very aware that drawdowns happen, and that the best thing to do is keep going, and that this is all part of the challenge. (Also that the parameters I have selected make drawdowns happen more quickly). However, owing to the setup, when the volatility of a security rises, or account size drops, securities can drop out of the tradable size range (one lot of a security may represent greater than 0.8% risk to my account, under my rules). When I started, 16 or 17 securities of 20 were tradable, now I’m down to around 7. Obviously as more drop out, it becomes more likely that I will miss the big trends which I need.

What would you do in my shoes? I’m well aware that the correct course is to keep going. However there are other options, such as increasing the risk per unit, or adding more capital to the account. I know that both of these go against the principles, but I worry that soon all securities will drop out of range and I will have 0 chance of recovery from this drawdown.

Thank you. Keep up the good work!

Oscar

I don’t suggest clients trade those time frames. Too short. Also, your diversification could be an issue.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
• Research
• Markets to Trade
• Crisis Times
• Trading Technology
• About Us

Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.

Subscribe to Trend Following Radio on iTunes

My guest today is Scott Anthony. Scott is a clinical professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where his research and teaching focuses on the adaptive challenges of disruptive change. He previously spent more than 20 years at Innosight, a growth strategy consultancy founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen.

The topic is his book Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

• Evolution and meaning of disruption in business
• Technology companies adapting to disruption (Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Apple)
• McDonald’s business model and Ray Kroc’s entrepreneurial mindset
• Impact of education, AI, and universities on future disruption

Mentions & Resources:

• Scott on LinkedIn
• Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World

Listen to this episode:

• Listen to this podcast on iTunes. (Please leave a rating!)
• Listen on Spotify.
• Libysn RSS.
• Download as MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
• Free Video.

Jump in!

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Dear Micheal,

I trust you are well. Thank you for keeping the valuable works of Richard Dennis alive and sharing it.

I read your book “The Complete TurtleTrader”. Absolutely love it.

May I confirm if you provide the training for the trend following and how long the course will be? Also if you could confirm the cost and if the training will be in person or via livestream.

Thank you in advance and kind regards,
Jean-Pierre R.

All details here.

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How can you move forward immediately to Trend Following profits? My books and my Flagship Course and Systems are trusted options by clients in 70+ countries.

Also jump in:

• Trend Following Podcast Guests
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Performance
• Research
• Markets to Trade
• Crisis Times
• Trading Technology
• About Us

Trend Following is for beginners, students and pros in all countries. This is not day trading 5-minute bars, prediction or analyzing fundamentals–it’s Trend Following.