meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Michael Covel's Trend Following

Ep. 200: Tom Basso Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Michael Covel's Trend Following

Michael Covel

Investing, Business

4.6730 Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2014

⏱️ 269 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest today is Tom Basso, the trader most famously known as “Mr. Serenity” in Jack Schwager's "New Market Wizards”. Basso, now retired, was a stock and commodities trader who was president and founder of Trendstat Capital Management. He is the author of two books, "Panic-Proof Investing" and "The Frustrated Investor". Basso became a registered investment advisor in 1980, a registered commodities advisor in 1984, and was elected to the board of the National Futures Association in 1998.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • Location independence
  • Making sure trading doesn’t take up your entire life
  • Stoicism
  • Trend following in the emotional arena
  • Mental exercises
  • The psychology of trend following
  • The “observer self”
  • The mental aspects of success
  • The importance of being able to lose small amounts of money
  • Why trend following does so well when the black swans hit
  • Basso’s daily routine and the importance of routine in daily life. Covel and Basso also go through listener questions such as whether Basso would make the same trading decisions that he did from the start
  • Money management v. trading
  • Tinkering with current systems
  • Knowing when it’s a regular drawdown v. something really going the wrong way
  • Whether Basso is a one-system kind of guy v. multiple systems

Jump in!

---

I’m MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I’m proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show.

To start? I’d like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/

You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can’t get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms:
Twitter: @covel
Facebook: @trendfollowing
LinkedIn: @covel
Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is Trend Following Radio, where great thinking comes alive.

0:10.9

Nobel Prize winners, legendary traders, best-selling authors, and the pros that know what drive us irrational human beings.

0:20.7

I am your host, Michael Covel.

0:23.1

Not filtered, raw, honest.

0:26.6

That's my passion.

0:32.6

400 episodes.

0:35.6

Today marks my 400th episode. 400 episodes. Today marks my 400th episode. Four hundred episodes. Anyone inspired enough to program that

0:46.3

much content this many guests, well, they either have to be a really cool person or slightly insane or a combination of both.

1:00.8

I will just put that out on the table as food for thought.

1:04.6

My guest today.

1:06.1

Well, actually, he's not my guest today.

1:07.7

Not my live guest today.

1:09.5

My guest today is Tom Bassow.

1:12.4

Tom has appeared on my podcast four times.

1:16.3

I think they're four of the most popular episodes that I've had on my show.

1:21.5

And today, on my 400th episode, I would like to play all four of Tom Basso's podcast episodes back to back, to back,

1:31.5

to back, with a bonus. The bonus is the very first excerpt I'm going to play is from

1:40.4

some time, I believe, in the early to mid-1990s,

1:47.0

at an event where Tom was speaking at.

1:50.4

You will find that Tom is very consistent.

1:52.9

His message has not changed.

1:56.8

I hope you enjoy this extremely long episode,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Covel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Covel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.