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Feedback in:

G’day Mike,

Just been relaxing and listening to your last Larry Hite interview and am looking forward to reading his book which is is winging it way to me at this very moment.

Its been a fantastic year of learning, listening to your podcasts and reading books and getting my trading under systematic control. It is kind of like a cloud that has lifted after many years of trading stocks. You have a great interviewing style which is a product of the passion you have for the subject. That you have stuck with it over the years in the face of the naysayers is testament to the belief that it works and anyone can do it if they have the mental fortitude.

I bought Amibroker, learned to program it, test the systems and most of all, have the confidence to follow the signals. I wish it had been something I’d done much earlier in life but that is just the way things go, better to start sometime than not at all. I’m building up a track record and will have a years worth of data at the end of January.

I have told people how I trade stocks and get the same feedback that you have encountered, what about fundamentals, what qualifies me to give advice. There is an old saying that my dad passed onto me years ago which you are no doubt familiar with “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”.

There are a couple of other guys who are trend traders in the local ATAA (Adelaide tech analysis) who believe that you have to step back and trade the longer slower trends while all the rest in the group are going the opposite direction of looking at 5minute bars and tick charts. I’m about to launch with a weekly bar system in the new year.

If you are ever in Australia let me know it would be fantastic to chat with you. Are you still in Asia?

Have a great New Year and continue the great work.

Regards,

Neil D.

My location is top secret!

More of a trend following deep dive? Here and here and 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
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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.

Subscribe to Trend Following Radio on iTunes

My guests today are Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks.

Stephen Martin, the CEO of the consulting and training company Influence at Work, works with companies around the world. He is the co-author of Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, which has sold over a million copies internationally and been translated into 26 languages. Steve’s work has been featured in broadcast and print media across the world, including BBC TV and Radio, MSNBC, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wired, The London Times, Sunday Telegraph, and the Guardian.

Joseph Marks is an associate consultant with Influence at Work and a doctoral candidate working jointly at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University College London. His research and studies have been published in both academic journals and The New York Times, Bloomberg and the Harvard Business Review.

The topic is their book Messengers: Who We Listen To, Who We Don’t, and Why.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

• They explain how in our uncertain and ambiguous world, the messenger is increasingly the message. We frequently fail, they argue, to separate the idea being communicated from the person conveying it, explaining why the status or connectedness of the messenger has become more important than the message itself.

Mentions & Resources:

• Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks
• @scienceofyes
• @Joemarks13

Listen to this episode:

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

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Feedback in:

Not sure I have had a real “challenge” with my “trading”.

Maybe I will give background although I sent you a message with the subject “Entertainment” that gave some background. So, I won’t go back over the vert skater, yoga teacher info.

I am 55. 2.5 years ago my wife passed away. She had a small amount of money she left me. Significantly more was left in trust for my daughter. I think that made sense. My daughter is 17. Her having a head start with stuff in simple investments, I think will be fine.

I took the money that was left to me and started “investing”. Buy and Hold, compared to my complete lack of knowledge (at the time) seemed fine.

I did make a bunch of maneuvers (trades) that made me a decent amount more than I would have if I had just bought and held. But the manner in which I was doing that was completely foolish. I definitely limited my upside with strategies like the one from the Investopedia article (“Traders would also be wise to consider setting limits on the amount they are willing to win or lose in a day.”)

I had not found your podcast at that point. Meb Faber actually pointed me in your direction.

Okay, maybe the biggest drawback to my strategies for trading so far are they are really all stock and index (etf) purchases. Have not really looked at bonds, currencies, commodities, options, futures, shorting.

And the idea, at this point, with how the market is (pretty high right now), of not having an exit strategy (hold and hope) seems crazy.

But, it seems I am not super risk averse as long as there is an upside potential.

So, perhaps the biggest challenge I have had was not knowing anything whatsoever when I decided I should try and figure this out.

While trying to learn I have consistently been astounded at how I went through so much of my life not thinking at all about money or finance and never having known how the stock market works or that you can make money even when the market is going down if you know what you are doing.

I have learned enough in the last few years to know how little I know. And to know I have been lucky to have had a market that has been going up a lot of the time. And to not be afraid to enter and buy a bunch last December as the US market was going down.

But that is not necessarily knowing anything. I just thought the trend was going to reverse and I was not worried about trying to catch a falling knife.

Now I would have done it differently and probably made more off the drop. But, still, not because I know enough. But because I have a couple of more tools.

C.

Thanks for the nice note. My FAQs are a good start.

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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:

Hello Michael,

The biggest challenge I faced (am facing) was to find a profitable strategy that suited my personality.

[Reader]

I can help on strategy. 100%.

Personality? First you need an accurate personality measure? To some supposed personality classification? Then there exists a way to successfully correlate the personality to a list of supposed valid trading styles? Such pie in the sky bullshit. All of it. Just do it, that works better.

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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:

Thank you, Michael. I’m familiar with trend following. Like many, I’ve been on a long and winding road to find what suits me with the attendant ups and downs in profitability. I’m still looking through the abundant material on your website and I’ve read your books. I’m the CIO of a family office and have followed the careers and performance of many of those you’ve profiled. While the family is not interested, I’d like to pursue this style of investing personally. I look forward to what you can teach me.

Regards,
Brian V.

Is it what suits you or what works?

Start 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.

Feedback in:

Good afternoon Mr. Covel,

I believe my biggest challenge is putting everything that I have learned together and moving forward with it. I am brand spanking new to this world of trading. I read an article about Tela Holcomb who has inspired me to work smarter not harder. She has recommended some of your books. I have read “The Turtle Trader” and is currently working on “The Little Book of Trading” right now. Really just trying to make sense of it all. I am doing this solely on my own. Only books, webinars, Youtube videos to use as my starting points. Not an actual person that I can ask questions to. So, I guess that is also a big obstacle no one to bounce ideas off of.

Thank you, Carrie T.

A good starting point.

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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 The Daily Stoic Meets The Trend Attitude with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio. This episode may also include great outside guests from my archive.

Listen to this episode:

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

Want to learn more Trend Following? Watch my video here.