SI181: The Power of Trend Following ft. Richard Brennan
Top Traders Unplugged
Niels Kaastrup-Larsen
4.8 • 712 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2022
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Richard Brennan joins us today to discuss the power of Trend Following during periods of heightened uncertainty, Trend Following applied to the ESG space, how endogenous price shocks cause longer-term trends, the new Top Traders Monthly Trend Following report, shorter-term Trend Following versus longer-term, and how ‘buy the dip’ investors are likely unprepared for sustained underperformance in stocks.
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50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why now might be the best time to be invested in Trend Following strategies
- How systematic investing can be applied to the ESG space
- The cause of longer-term price trends
- The Top Traders Monthly Trend Following report
- The best lookback period for Trend Following models
- The need to diversify away from the ‘buy the dip’ mentality
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Episode TimeStamps:
00:00 – Intro
03:49 – Macro recap from Niels
06:40 – Weekly review of performance
16:35 – Thoughts on Niels, Rich & Jerrys’ LinkedIn conversation with Harold De Boer of Transtrend
23:16 – Q1; Frank : How do you see Trend Following strategies fitting into the ESG space?
31:43 – Why we developed the Top Traders Monthly Trend Following report
51:55 – Q2; Steve : What else causes a long price trend if endogenous shocks are the initial cause?
01:09:39 – Shorter-term Trend Following versus longer-term Trend Following
01:15:11 – The power of Trend Following during this period of heightened uncertainty
01:20:14 – Benchmark performance update
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
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PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're about to join Neil's Kostrup Larson on a raw and honest journey into the world of systematic investing and learn about the most dependable and consistent yet often overlooked investment strategy. |
| 0:13.0 | Welcome to the Systematic Investor Series. |
| 0:25.4 | Welcome and welcome back to this week's edition of the Systematic Investor Series with Richard Brennan and I, Niels Kassel Larsen, where each week we take the pulse of the global markets |
| 0:30.0 | through the lens of a rules-based investor. |
| 0:33.0 | Now, if you're new to the show, I hope that today's episode will trigger your curiosity enough |
| 0:37.1 | to check out the backcastleogue and listen to the past episodes that you may have missed, |
| 0:41.8 | like my conversation with Mark last week, where we discussed the need to be humble when |
| 0:46.6 | you make economic forecasts and how central bank policies affect trend following performance. |
| 0:52.7 | And then of course we turned to the big question, |
| 0:55.3 | namely when to apply the Moscow rules, |
| 0:58.1 | as Mark eloquently called it. |
| 1:00.9 | So if you missed that episode or the midweek release of the Allocator series |
| 1:05.7 | with another fascinating and quite outspoken CIO, |
| 1:09.8 | I invite you to go back and queue up those episodes |
| 1:12.6 | after you finish this one. As you may know, the aim of the podcast is to inspire you as an investor. |
| 1:19.8 | We want to be prerogative, but without being polarizing. We want to challenge consensus |
| 1:25.1 | narratives and to advocate how to think critically about investing in an |
| 1:29.1 | uncertain world and to provide you with a framework and mindset that we believe is truly robust. |
| 1:35.9 | And if you want to help us achieve our goal, what we ask of you is that if you can comment, |
| 1:40.5 | if you can continue to send us your questions. If you can share these episodes with your |
| 1:44.7 | friends and not least if you can rate and review them in iTunes or Spotify, we would greatly |
| 1:49.7 | appreciate it as this is the best way for us to see that you get some value from the time |
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