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Michael Covel's Trend Following

Ep. 306: Tom Basso Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Michael Covel's Trend Following

Michael Covel

Business, Investing

4.6732 Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2015

⏱️ 46 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 from managing client money, was president and founder of Trendstat Capital Management. 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. Today, he is a private trader.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • 50% drop in oil and why trend followers have done especially well with this price movement
  • Why people like to blame speculators, and the value of speculation; emotional rushes and emotional devastation
  • Mentally rehearsing catastrophic events
  • Focusing 1,000 trades into the future
  • Separating your trading from your political opinion
  • Trend following and behavioral economics
  • The importance of not letting your trading define you
  • Basso's advice to newcomers to the CTA industry

Jump in!

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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, bestselling authors, and the pros that know what drive us irrational human beings.

0:21.2

I am your host, Michael Covel.

0:24.0

Not filtered, raw, honest.

0:27.4

That's my passion.

0:33.1

Today on the podcast, I have Tom Basso.

0:36.8

Tom originally profiled in Jack Schwagers's, the New Market Wizards,

0:42.3

ran a very successful trend following firm for a very long time.

0:45.9

Now, as a private investor, he's still a trend following trader.

0:52.0

Tom has appeared on my podcast multiple times and is a fantastic guest.

0:57.0

If you don't learn something from Tom Basso, please give up and retire.

1:02.0

I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Tom Basso.

1:09.0

How are you?

1:12.8

I am doing fantastic.

1:14.8

Just got back from two weeks in French Polynesia.

1:17.7

Very relaxed.

1:19.1

I'm taking a break from moving five tons of gravel in my yard right now to talk to you,

1:24.3

and then I'll go back to that when we're done.

1:26.4

The five tons of gravel sounds like good exercise, to say the least.

1:30.8

That's the way I view it.

1:32.3

Yeah.

1:32.9

So French Polynesia, I've not been there, even though I've been in roughly that same part

...

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