Trend Following, 5th Edition

2 Great Trend Followers

Most of us don’t have the discipline to stay focused on a single goal for five, ten, or twenty years, giving up everything to bring it off, but that’s what’s necessary to become an Olympic champion, a world class surgeon, or a Kirov ballerina. Even then, of course, it may be all in vain. You may make a single mistake that wipes out all the work. It may ruin the sweet, lovable self you were at seventeen. That old adage is true: You can do anything in life; you just can’t do everything. That’s what Bacon meant when he said a wife and children were hostages to fortune. If you put them first, you probably won’t run the three-and-a-half-minute-mile, make your first $10 million, write the great American novel, or go around the world on a motorcycle. Such goals take complete dedication.

—Jim Rogers¹

The wise and most efficient way to understand trend following is not by only learning rules that make up the strategy, or by studying behavioral work, but by reviewing every last detail of the traders who practice it—Anthony Robbins modeling 101. However, many are reluctant to concede they might do better with mentoring or guidance—even if only from a book. Although they will sign up for a cooking or language class, and bet their money on social media avatars, they won’t take advantage of insights from those who have made fortunes. They prefer reinventing the wheel instead of modeling behavior from proven top performers. However, the evidence shows modeling is critical ...