No jargon. No platitudes. Just real market lessons tied together with optimism and practicality. Pull back the Wizard of Oz curtain to see how and why big money is made today. No reliance on government, media, or Wall Street. In this book, self-sufficiency rules the day.
In Trend Commandments, Covel distills the essential wisdom of trend following as an investment strategy into fascinating, bite-sized pieces that any investor can absorb. Much shorter than Covel's previous books, Trend Commandments delivers real moneymaking insights from true winners, backed by real performance results--not idle talk or platitudes.
Discover how one of the biggest names in trend following made over 20% in August 2010 alone, and why this strategy keeps making big money when everyone else is dropping like a stone. Learn how to escape the cycle of "panic, fear, hope, and return-to-panic," and how to profit in an age of financial crisis and deepening instability.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 1
Ignition 3
Expectations 9
Jargon 11
Show Me the Money 15
Blowing Bubbles 25
Speculari 29
Fundamentals Are Religion 33
Everything Flows 39
Systematic Trend Following 41
Change 45
No Prediction 47
Price Action 51
Place Your Bet 55
Trading Systems 59
Trade Everything 65
Drawdown 69
Entry 73
This Way to the Egress 75
Losers Average Losers 79
Home Run 81
Robust 85
Push the Button 87
Wash, Rinse, Repeat 91
Zero-Sum 95
Crash and Burn 97
Inefficient Markets 101
Benchmark 105
Haters 109
The Root of All Evil 113
Panicky Sheep 117
IQ vs. EQ 123
Commitment 127
Decide Now 131
Science 135
Statistical Thinking 137
Aha! 143
Hero Worship 147
Buy and Hope 151
Convert 155
Oracle of Omaha 157
A Seinfeld Moment 161
Snow Job 165
Twit Me a River 169
Goldline 173
Intoxication 175
Parliament of Whores 181
Crowded House 185
Black Box 187
Lucky Monkey 189
Honest 193
Under the Radar 199
Ethos 201
Games People Play 205
Blood Hound 207
Epilogue 211
Extras 213
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise 215
Origins 221
Cheat Sheet 235
Quick Commandments 239
Bibliography 242
Endnotes 246
About Trend Following & Michael Covel 265
Index 267
About the Author :
Michael Covel is the author of five books: including the international bestseller, Trend Following and his investigative narrative, The Complete TurtleTrader. Fascinated by traders that quietly generate spectacular returns, those going against the grain of investment orthodoxy, he has uncovered astonishing insights about how they think, strategize and execute their systems.
His cutting-edge and unorthodox perspectives have garnered international acclaim and have earned him invitations with: China Asset Management Co., Ltd., GIC Private Limited (Singapore sovereign wealth fund), BM&F Bovespa, Managed Funds Association, Bank of China Investment Management, Market Technicians Association. He also has the distinction of interviewing four Nobel Prize winners in economics, including Daniel Kahneman and Harry Markowitz and has been featured by major press, including: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CCTV, The Straits Times and Fox Business.
Covel’s Trend Following Podcast now has over 2.5M listens (trendfollowing.com/podcast) and has ranked as high as #2 on iTunes. He splits his time across USA and Asia and sees location independence as our future.
Review :
"An outstanding book [Trend Commandments] for anyone who wants to become rich by trading markets. Today, government regulations and fiscal and monetary policies are badly distorting financial markets. Covel accurately explains why, in this 'manipulated' financial environment, you should never expect markets to move as you wish or expect. Rather, disregard your fundamental beliefs and simply follow the trend. Highly recommended!"
Marc Faber
Managing Director, Marc Faber Ltd.
Editor, Gloom Boom & Doom Report
"If you are even thinking of a career in trading, put down all the other books. Buy this one [Trend Commandments]. Read it. Now you can start your career."
James Altucher
Managing Director, Formula Capital
"Fire up the barbecue. Michael Covel skewers the sacred cows of Wall Street with tasty bite-sized bits of the truth about what it really takes to succeed in trading and life. Wide-ranging, irreverent, revealing, eminently quotable, and right on the money."
Charles Faulkner
Market Wizard Trading Coach
"A rapidly moving, non-technical, and outside-the-box effort that smartly captures the essentials of trend following."
Peter Borish
Chairman and CEO, Computer Trading Corp
"Michael Covel's Trend Commandments is full of practical wisdom in bite-size portions on the benefits of trend trading--written in a straightforward storytelling format. It's definitely one to add to your financial bookshelf."
David Stendahl
Signal Financial Group
"Michael Covel is the very best at explaining the concepts of successful trend following in plain English. I'm certain you'll be a successful trader if you follow the ideas he outlines in Trend Commandments. This book (and his previous two!) are required reading for new employees in my office."
Steve Sjuggerud
DailyWealth
"Investors have experienced two bear markets in the last decade. This has led to rising volatility, uncertainty, and investor angst. For some it has been a lost decade, but for trend traders it has been a decade of opportunity. Trend Commandments helps you focus on what matters most: the trend of the markets, whether up or down. You can profit from either. Trend Commandments is essential reading for those who have the desire to thrive and survive in an era of fast-paced trending
markets."
Jim Puplava
CEO, Chief Investment Strategist, PFS Group
"Buy and hold has been a difficult investment system for investors for a decade. In Trend Commandments, Covel challenges readers to think differently and question their beliefs about market 'truths' ingrained in them for years. Forewarned, you just may never see the world the same way again."
Mebane Faber
Cambria Investment Management
"Covel's Trend Commandments offers a breezy rumination on what is right about trend following and what is wrong about conventional trading approaches."
Jack Schwager
Author of Market Wizards and Schwager on Futures series
"Trend Commandments is a compelling read taking on serious issues in an entertaining format. The chapter of 'Inefficient Markets' is a must read, and I'm still laughing at the 'Intoxication' chapter--because in truth there is humor."
Mark H. Melin
Author of High Performance Managed Futures
Director, Managed Funds, Peregrine Financial Group
"Successful traders need rules and the rules in this book are better than most since they are from the most successful traders in the world. Catch my drift? To be successful you must learn and apply these rules. I rate this book a 3x--as to be read at least three times."
Timothy Sykes
Author of An American Hedge Fund
"In Trend Commandments Covel writes, 'Golf Legend Jack Nicklaus is famous for saying: 'Don't be too proud to take a lesson. I'm not. Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them.' Every beginning or experienced trend follower should take lessons from this book and your previous books. I have been a trend follower for over 40 years and I am not too proud to take lessons."
James O. Rohrbach
Investment Models, Inc.
