Trend Following, 5th Edition

Afterword

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

—General George S. Patton Jr.

When I started trading in the commodity futures markets over 40 years ago, the industry didn’t even have a name. Today the business has grown to the point where there are myriad ways to describe the funds that operate and their many styles of investing. The particular discipline of trading that I practiced, even before the nomenclature existed, is now plainly and aptly termed “trend following.” In fact, while I have seen many strategies come and go, most of the other managers that I have known to survive and thrive over the past few decades in global futures markets are also trend followers. For having made my living as a trend follower, I’ve yet to come across a more compelling study, so clearly distilled, than has been offered by Michael Covel in Trend Following.

I first met Michael Covel when he was working on this book. I was a little hesitant at first about sharing some of the rather simple secrets of my trade. And I didn’t make it easy on Covel. I started interviewing him on his investments and how he managed his risk. He quickly made me realize that he not only understood trend following, but that he embraced it much like me. We delved into the roots of trend following and my investment strategies to explore why they work rather than just accepting the results. In reading Trend Following, I now see how well he was able to translate his knowledge, and the perspectives of many of ...