Category: Trend Following

Feedback in:

Great question, sorry for the long answer.

Biggest challenge…history: I am a relatively smart guy, MBA finance, Retirement Plan Consultant/RIA therefore I used to “invest”, not trade, based on fundamentals and experienced several falling knives, as well as the usual emotional biases, sell winners too fast, hold losers too long. I finally learned that knowing a lot about stocks and markets has very little to do with investment success, might even be a hindrance. Moreover, it has been an expensive lesson.

In the process of moving to technical trading, but still took some unnecessary losses in 2018 by not having stops in place and holding a few losers too long. My biggest challenge is firming up “trading rules” to establish a stop limit up front on every trade, and exit-profit target price, or sell 1/2 at x price and continue to hold.

Have had some informal advice from a good friend who is an experienced trend follower trader, but more tips than details on his methods.

Two objectives for me are:

1) Develop firm rules based trend strategy—discipline.
2) Test strategy over time and track results. Make changes to strategy as needed, but only after proper time frame and evaluation of results. Lastly, KISS, simpler is probably better, at least in early stages.

Tracking results and getting feedback from market seems to be the key. If strategy is not working: is it the rules the trader is using, or the lack of precision and discipline in following the rules? In the past, have been too emotional because I like a companies potential for long term success or whatever.

I like what I see so far from your website, and plan on listening to several podcasts. My copy of your book “Trend Following” arrives tomorrow.

Thanks Michael, looking forward to taking the course.

[Name]
Northfield, Illinois

You are welcome. A good starting place.

---

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,

My biggest challenges as a market participant have been 2 things. The first has been an inability to follow a consistent approach. Historically, I have been generally a fundamentally driven discretionary investor in equities and I have found it to be too restrictive as I have been more of a value investor. As a consequence, I have missed out on being able to invest in some of the best companies in the world as they have been more expensive but yet they have delivered great returns in many cases. This has caused me to chase them sometimes and generally, this has lead to poor results. I am interested in being able to layer on a more systematic approach to equities. My second issue has been timing. I have realized losses from positions many times due to investing in the wrong market phase. I would like to be able to have a better system for knowing when the time is right for the highest probability of success – both long and short. I hope this helps and thanks for the wonderful work you have done. I am currently reading your tremendous book!

Thanks again,
[Name]

You are welcome!

---

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 Dana Cavalea, the former strength, conditioning and performance coach for the New York Yankees and author of, “Habits of a Champion, Nobody Becomes a Champion By Accident.” He started in baseball as an underperforming player, knowing he would never make it to the major leagues. In 2002, at 19 years old, he was given the opportunity to be a towel/weight room cleanup guy for the Yankee’s – he quickly jumped at the chance.

The topic is his book Habits of a Champion: Nobody Becomes a Champion By Accident.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

• Importance of routine
• Derek Jeter
• Talent vs. work ethic in pro sports
• Science behind training
• Yoga
• Mindfulness
• Meditation
• Downshifting the nervous system

“Focus on the process and let the results create themselves.” – Dana Cavalea

Mentions & Resources:

• Dana Cavalea
• Habits of a Champion: Nobody Becomes a Champion By Accident
• @DANACAVALEA

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.

Jump in!

Feedback in:

Hello Michael,

Firstly, let me introduce that I am a CANSLIM follower–which is a trend following system.

I think psychology is the biggest challenge I have faced. Last year I doubled my capital in a beautiful rally market. That is not bad for a beginner like me. Then I increased leverage. That may be a big mistake for me.

I hope to study more as I think the stock market is the right place for me if I can manage my psychology.

Best regards,
[Name]

It’s system + psychology.

It’s both. Together.

---

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:

Biggest challenge is figuring out what to focus on and study as there are so many indicators, time frames, setups, long or short. I feel like I’ve touched bases on a hundred different things but cant narrow it down to a couple things to just master. Plus I hate how when I join a group and they have hundreds and hundreds of videos some well over an hour and it drags out and becomes overwhelming. I like simple step by step instructions without all the fluff commentary in between.

Go #trendfollowing.

Straightforward.

---

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:

Michael,

The change: I still have faith that TF works.

I’ve drunk the TF kool-aid.

I’ve written spreadsheets for moving average crosses with VBA code to parse through 20,000 combinations of MA’s to find the best regions of performance. This is implemented. Need to refine stop losses and add more markets. Need to add automated data download.

For the break out system, I can’t find a combination that beats long-only buy-and-hold on S&P data. Validating my code and hoping to find an error. “Head-banging on Wall.”

[Name]

Are you only trading one market alone?

---

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,

Your podcast has stoked a never ending (up to this point) enthusiasm for the world of investing, trend-following, and psychology. An attempt to learn something new everyday from you and your guests. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I’m a fan of the psychological aspect as well, which I find truly fascinating.

I listen to other podcasts, Meb Faber Show, Masters in Business, etc. I added yours first in an attempt of how to invest my money better and not just blindly follow buy and hold. I was able to go on and fly through reading TurtleTrader, which initially set me on course for your podcast. That was my light bulb moment if you will.

This all brings me to the impact trend following has had on what I notice in my daily life. When I see things outside of investing I can sometimes immediately connect them with the idea of trend following and then it makes me think I should write to thank you. Even when I was watching a cybercrime show on Netflix and the episode was about the Nigerian email scams, it brought me to why they do it. It’s so easy for them to send these emails (place many bets), and then all they need to to hit (get a return) a few suckers and they can do very well. That hit % could be 40%, 30%, much less. Similar to trend following, when you hit though you may hit big.

I think it would be a fun interview if you could get Robert Cialdini. I don’t think you’ve had him on before. Excellent work into psychology would be an amazing interview similar to Kahneman.

Personally, I still diversify my investments which include trend-following, buy-and-hold and value. However, these do not match my passion from research based on your insights for trend-following and I thank you for that.

I also hope to make it to Asia since I have never been outside of the US. I’m excited for it, based on what I have heard from you. I have a friend in Tokyo, but if I ever make it your way maybe I can buy you drink or meal for all of the insights you’ve put in the public domain.

[Name]

Thanks for the feedback! Cialdini has been on my show!

---

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.