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Category: Feedback

Life as a Continuum Running on Loop Back and Forth from Risk to Reward

Posted on by Michael Covel

Life is a series of bets. Decisions on top of decisions. Choosing a trading strategy is one of those decisions to bet on. Consider an excerpt from Trend Commandments:

You want to see life as a continuum running on a loop back and forth from risk to reward. If you want a big reward, take a big risk. If you want an average reward and an average life, take an average risk. Easier said than done, however, if you want the big reward. Our system is notorious for playing Whac-A-Mole with achievers. From an early age, people are conditioned by families, schools, and virtually every other shaping force in society to avoid risk. To take risks is inadvisable; to play it safe is the message. Risk can only be bad. However, winners understand risk is highly productive, and not something to avoid. Taking calculated risks is different from acting rashly. Playing it safe is the true danger. Far more often than you might realize, the real risk in life turns out to be the refusal to take a risk. If life is a game of risk, then to one degree or another, being comfortable with assessing odds is the only option for a fulfilling life. Consider trading from a “startup” business perspective. Every business is ultimately involved in assessing risk. Putting capital to work to make it grow is the goal. In that sense, all business is the same. The right decisions lead to success, and wrong ones lead to insolvency.

Blunt, but true.

Now, feedback from a listener that made the right bet:

Trend following has indeed changed my life. After a 20-year career on Wall Street I am now a successful, profitable, independent trader. Have I made money with trend following? Yes, indeed. Living a nice life in Chicago with three kids going to private school, enjoying the finer things. My strategy is not difficult to execute at all. Very basic and straight forward. I keep it as simple as possible. I will absolutely continue to execute this strategy. Mind you–always looking at new information and ideas.

Thanks!

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.

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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.

Don’t Fear Failure: Comfort Zone Living Is Death

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

Dear Mr. Covel,

Let me please take a bit of your time and let me share my thoughts about one of your latest podcasts.

Episode 378.

That monologue blew me away. I had to pause so often as I had to inhale fresh air to think about my own life. The topic of failure and success! Education is not a huge topic people in Germany like to talk about. Often you hear the voices of your parents, friends, teachers, “You can not do this and that. No, you are to small for it. Learn first something properly before you are shifting your focus to another topic. No, please finish first your university so if you have that job you have something for a crisis as you can always go back even if you decide to start with something new.“

I am so angry with all this BS that I heard my entire life and thanks to your work I have started with trading for my own around 8 years ago. I have lost a lot of money, but since about a year ago I am successful. I quit my boring job where I had my comfort zone living from paycheck to paycheck. I got married with my wonderful wife from Brazil and swing trade currencies and commodities with the bias of the long term trend.

I would love to hear more of failure and mindset on your podcast. You should really try to get Michael Jordan or J.K. Rowling on your podcast. I am a dreamer and I believe in myself. Thanks for giving your voice and message into this world. By the way I will go to China end of October and thanks for your Episode 358. My wife and I are visiting Guangzhou for the Canton Trade Fair, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. It would be a pleasure for me to meet you if you have time by any chance.

All the best,
[Name]

You are welcome. Let’s see if we can meet!

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.

What If I Were Starting Over?

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

Good afternoon Mr. Covel,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is [Name] & I live in Sykesville, MD which is about 25 min’s south west of Baltimore.

I’m reaching out b/c I would like to learn how to conduct the research you’ve conducted & continue to do on trend following. I don’t know where to begin. Would you mind sharing what you would do today knowing what you know if you had to start all over again? Many thanks in advance for your time & thoughts.

[Name]

P.S. I love your podcasts!

I have actually put that here.

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.

Trend Following Feedback

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

Dear Michael,

First off, I would like to thank you on the excellent work you have done. You should be very proud of your efforts. The courage you have shown at times is highly impressive.

I am not a particularly good writer, but I will try to keep this concise and accurate. I have been working in the finance area for roughly ten years, but until recently I didn’t know of you. In fact, I only discovered Richard Dennis and the turtle story a few years ago. I read up on them for a bit, then as daily work took over and whatever else, I never went back to them. I then lost my job, became pretty sick, moved country…well, a lot happened. I have always been surrounded by fundamental type fund managers and analysts, who never really wanted or asked my opinion, I was just their operations or trader guy. I never had the confidence to voice my opinion. Listening to conversations with lines like ‘China mobile is cheap at twelve times earnings’ or ‘I should really tweak my estimates slightly on mediatek’. The usual blah blah, by guys who only cared about beating their peers, despite meaning that could mean their clients losing money. While I never believed it, I never really took the time to seek an alternative way. I was generally more interested in sport. Also, I never had any kind of mentor. I know these sound like lame excuses, maybe they are.

To use your words Michael, I am ‘making a commitment to change’. My motivation is one for change in my life. I have consumed a lot of your work in recent months, mostly the books and podcasts (an outstanding service). I am very interested in purchasing your training program. I am more than humble to admit, I can’t turn things around without help and sound advice. I am not seeking a Holy Grail as mentioned on your site. I want to give myself minimum one year full effort and commitment, part of a plan to turn things around. Of course, it will hopefully be one year or many more.

About the program, I am concerned that I may wander off course, so to speak. There is a lot of reading material. Can I read that over time? Can I educate myself with the systems at the same time? I worry that without checkpoints along the way, the books will gather dust. I guess that is up to me. My capital for investments at the moment is relatively modest. I also worry that I should have more questions to ask, but don’t.

Thank you for your time. I am happy to call you if you have a spare five mins, I understand you are a busy guy. Email is more than fine.

Regards,
[Name]

Sure, we can talk. I look forward to the chat.

In advance of that call listen.

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.

Trend Following is for Everyone

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

My only beef with Michael is that he advocates long-term TF as a strategy for everyone. I only wished he would emphasize that long-term TF ‘works’ because of diversification (I believe he is very much aware of it; so, there is no need for him to be ‘told’ so) and would alter his message to include such. Otherwise, I think, he is a good source of information on long-term TF.

Thanks for the nice words, but TF is for everyone. Whether they invest with whatever fund, manager or DIY (futures, ETFs, etc.).

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.

Trend Following in Geneva

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

Good Morning Mr Covel,

My name is [Name], I’m 27 years old, and from my first day on a trading desk, I’m a huge fan of your podcast–website–books. I started my career helping a senior trader setting up a trend following trading company here in Geneva. We have been very successful from day one but mismanagement and lack of patience from the management resulted in a strategy’s change in the company (more macro/equity).

As you can imagine, this has structured my way of trading/approach. I’m currently an FX/Commos Trader at [Company], the trading arm of [Company]. Even if I can’t implement a complete TF program, I’m using this approach on a daily basis and I hope I’ll have the patience to use it for the next 40 years!

I’m writing to you as I heard several times in your podcast that you send a free package/copy of your DVD to your listeners. Not sure I heard correctly but in case I had, I would be glad to receive one!

In France, my direction is:
[Address]

In Switzerland:
[Address]

I would also be glad to come to one of your events if you pass by Geneva! Thanks in advance for the DVD, but sincerely thank you for your work/dedication around the TF concepts.

Best regards,
[Name]

DVD on the way!

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.

“Why do people settle for mediocrity?”

Posted on by Michael Covel

Feedback in:

Michael,

First off, as an avid listener to your podcast I would like to thank you for the free content you put out to spread the trend following ideology. I have benefited from your content greatly, and know other like minded people have benefited as well.

As a recent graduate with an engineering degree I had a lot of trouble carrying out a buy and hold (hope) type investment strategy. It was a big mental conflict listening to the advice of financial advisors that recommended a strategy with mediocre returns and excess risk. Why does the media, efficient market theorist disagree with the that mentality hard work = results when it comes to the markets? Why do people settle for mediocrity?

Being relatively new to investing, and being the results driven person I am, after hours/days of researching different investment strategies, trend following caught my eye. A system that relies on the hard numbers (price) rather than opinions and blind predictions is exactly what I was looking for. Despite the poor timing for me to adapt a trend following type strategy (sideways market), I am no less confident in my strategy than the day I started, however this doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

As someone who exclusively trades stocks/bonds/etfs which of your books would you recommend for me to improve upon my system? I am already aware of the many trend following principles the turtles have used, i.e. position sizing, entry, exit…

Thanks again,
[Name]

I would try them all.

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.