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"Some people think [trend following] trading is a system, but it's really much more powerful than that... it's a trading philosophy. The course [flagship] gives comprehensive insight to the most accessible active management strategy currently in use. [You] find revealing explanations of all the critical elements of a successful trend following trading plan. The concepts espoused here are not just opinions... these techniques have been proven to work."
—Paul Mulvaney
"There have been few authors that have tackled the financial markets with a candor that was entertaining while not alienating themselves from the community they wrote about. A few greats come to mind: Michael Lewis, Jack Schwager, and Nassim Taleb. I believe Michael Covel also belongs squarely in this camp for his work to champion the trend following movement."
—Tim Pickering
"I have been trading for many years and doing okay but my method was not systematic enough and too stock focused. I decided that I needed to up my game and ran across a reference to Trend Following while reading another book. I decided to contact Mike after reading the book and decided to work with him one on one. This experience has put me in a new league and really helped me focus on my weak areas which were risk management and portfolio selection. I would recommend any trader who is not where they want to be to start with Mike and the Trend Following book, website and flagship."
—Steve Beamer
"Years ago, famed Chicago bond trader Tom Baldwin put trading in a phrase: "Everybody wants the money, but whose willing to do the work?" I know a few. One of them is Michael Covel. Michael did the yeoman's duty no one else would do: bringing together the principles, practices and track records of trend following. In his now numerous books, flagship and programs, he solidly demonstrates trend following is a viable trading and investment strategy; moreover, one that can be learned and mastered. Something many so-called trading and investment strategies have yet to do."
—Charles Faulkner
"I am a big fan of Michael Covel. What impresses me the most is his single minded determination to get his message out regarding his central theme: trend following works. His books provide plentiful evidence of long term superior performance by numerous trend following traders. He doesn't coddle his readers with pep talk–that's not his style. Instead he says "if you're going to try to make money in what might be the world's hardest profession, why not take a studied look at how some of the most successful traders got that way and emulate their behavior?" And talk about a bargain–he's done the arduous work compiling track records, picking the minds of sometimes elusive superior traders and then distilling all the data down into thoroughly useful, readable text. What tremendous value for a few bucks. And then, because Michael understands his role as a gifted entrepreneur, he goes the next step by providing guidance and tools to would be traders utilizing the internet and a variety of affordable trend following trading flagship. I traded my first futures contract in 1969 and spent my professional career in the futures industry until my retirement in 2001. Through the years I have been asked many times for advice about how to attempt to be a successful trader. My answer now–read and apply Covel."
—Jack Zaner
"I just wanted to say thanks for all you do. My brother read your book back in 2005 and gave it to me to read. It changed our trading and, I believe, our lives. Please indulge a little background. My brother is 8 years my senior. He's in the construction business and I'm in the insurance business. Pretty different professionally, but not philosophically. What we had most in common was a fascination of the financial markets and figuring out a way to profit from them. He and I have both spent most of our adult lives educating ourselves on economic and financial issues and continue to do so on a daily basis. We would categorize ourselves as followers of Austrian economic thought and free market libertarians. We had been dabbling in the futures markets for over a decade and could never find an approach that would work for us. Unfortunately, we followed various gurus on our way to losing money year after year and depleted several different trading accounts. We had always focused on systematic approaches to trading because we both felt that we couldn't trust ourselves to maintain any trading consistency with soft rules or instinct. Our problem was that we lacked any understanding of trading systems and all of their component parts. As a result, we chose to follow the complicated black box systems designed by others. These systems all focused on picking tops/bottoms or otherwise predicting market direction in some way. We didn't realize it at the time, but in retrospect, the one thing positive we took away from these experiences was the understanding that our greatest attribute as traders was our discipline. We took every single trading signal from every guru we ever followed, come hell or high water. The better educated we became, the more we realized that NOBODY really knows anything about the direction of markets. To design or follow a systematic approach to trading based on the premise that market direction was predictable was a ticket to the poor house. We'd heard about trend following methods but only in a disparaging light. We quit trading for 5 years. Then we both read Trend Following. It was the proverbial "ah ha" moment that we had spent 20 years looking for. Sometimes the truth is so hard to see because it's right in front of your face. To make a long story a little shorter, my brother purchased your flagship... and we starting our little trading company in Feb 2006 with $100,000 in seed money. We trade a basket of 10 futures markets using the rules in your course (although with a lower risk %). We never deviate and we take every signal, subject to the our risk management rules. We spend no more that 1/2 hour a day on our trading business. We have tripled our account balance to $300,000 in the intervening 3.5 years without ever adding any more capital. We have not had a losing year yet, although I'm sure we will eventually. We made just under 100% return in 2008, which would have been much greater had our capital base been larger or if we had been comfortable with a greater per trade risk %. We had to beg off some trades that were immensely profitable in fall 2008 due to our position limits and % risk rules. Unfortunate, sure, but we slept great and still doubled our money in the greatest financial debacle of our lifetimes. 2008 was only the beginning. Government interference in markets always makes for great trend trading opportunities. The size and scope of government today simply means that trends are only going to be bigger and will occur with more frequency. We're ready and waiting. We can't thank you enough for sharing the wisdom of trend following with us. We truly believe that significant trading wealth is simply a matter of time for us thanks to the education you provided... mixed in with a big helping of discipline!"
—Jeff P.
"I am a trader since over 12 years now. My trading style was purely day trading, because of my past as a market maker in forex. Since 5 years I do trade in my portfolio trend following systems. Actually it became the bigger part of my portfolio. I did read your books the first time in 2007 (I have at least 10 copies at home of your books, in English and German) and for me it was like a confirmation, that what I was doing was right and gave me confidence to trade more in trend following then in day trading. I also then bought your flagship and finally this year bought your Tradestation code. I also bought your movie. I am a big fan of you Michael and thank you very much for your work. You helped me a lot to have more confidence and trust in it and so far it paid off... Please don't forget that I am Swiss, so my English vocabulary and grammar is not very well. I don't have a webpage and don't use Facebook or Linkedin, so I don't need any publicity on my side. I would love though, to meet people that also do active and since longer time Trend Following trading to share experiences, ideas or just to chat. Sometimes I feel very lonely in this trading world, of course there are many that try to trade out there, but very few people who do it successfully. Let me know how to proceed."
—Adriano
"Michael Covel is a rare breed. He is the only author I have come across who really understands how traders can make money, regularly and consistently over a long period of time. The question is how long can a trader last with a specific style of trading. There are many traders who have made a lot of money only to blow up or loose it all eventually. Many trading strategies can work over a period of 2 to 3 years, but will they work over a period of 20 or 30 years? I have seen extremely smart spread traders trading mean reversal type strategies who made a fortune in 2 to 3 years, and then blow up and never recover. I have come across arbitrage strategies that were very successful over a period of 4 to 5 years, but eventually blew up over a tail event. I have also met very successful macro traders who have bet successfully on certain market moves and made a fortune but their careers stalled and eventually they burnt out. The only successful traders that have consistently made money over a long period of time are systematic trend followers, the type of traders that Micheal Covel covers in his books. Unfortunately, the financial wold has been hijacked by crooks, charlatans, bankers and investment advisers hoodwinking the general public into believing that buying and holding a financial asset over a long period of time is the right strategy with "shareholder democracy". And when that does not work, advisers try and trick investors with volatility of returns and complicated ratios, when all that matters are absolute returns over a long period of time. Micheal Covel shines a light in this world and is indeed a rare breed. I cannot recommend his work enough."
—Jad Tawil
"The following is my story of how I have found myself trading for students. It all started with me being introduced to Michael Covel in a Barnes & Noble in northern Cincinnati. No, not an introduction in person, but his life's passion. Back in 2005, I was working for one of the largest brokerage/mutual fund companies in the world. It was fairly mundane work, answering phone calls from students trying to open brokerage accounts. This was just a ‘hold-over' position in that I knew I didn't want to be doing ‘this', but didn't know what my long-term plans were. I had always been interested in markets, and wanted to know how to actually make money trading. Unfortunately, the company I was working for had no interest (or ‘know how') in teaching me how to properly manage money (ultimately, a good thing for me), and looking back to my time spent in finance classes in college, my professors had no real-world solutions either. It was this experience that prompted me to start reading every trading book I could get my hands on. Good or bad, this started my trading education. Most of these books I read were filled with the ‘how to read financial statements to determine if a market is undervalued/overvalued' confusion. But then, there were some that were helpful in getting me past the notion that I had to study balance sheets and income statements in order to win; however, were mostly filled with this B.S. oscillator or that B.S. chart pattern. There was no meat. The most important thing I learned from a few of these books was the phrase ‘Follow the trend'. Now, I don't say that for the sake of giving these various authors credit, but to say that it was the phrase ‘Follow the trend' that led me to Michael Covel 's first book Trend Following. As I was walking in that Barnes & Noble, I spotted something familiar on the spine of one of the hundreds of books on the shelf, the words ‘Trend Following'. As I pulled it from the shelf and started leafing through the pages, I came across names such as Bill Dunn, Ed Seykota, John W. Henry and more who made millions, even billions trading a Trend Following strategy. It was Covel's book for me that transformed ‘Follow the trend' from just a phrase in to ‘Trend Following' the worldview. You see, trend following is not just a trading strategy, but a way of living one's life. It was my AHA moment. Wanting to make trading a big part of my life, I graduated on to Michael's Trend Following course. It was here where I was able to really get down to the nuts and bolts of building a systematic trend following trading system. In his flagship, Michael taught me how to evaluate the odds of any risk-taking endeavor, that magnitude trumps frequency, and that being able to take losses are a big part of trading as they are in life. It taught me to assemble a complete trading system, including knowing when and where to enter, when and where to exit with a profit and a loss, portfolio selection, and how much to risk on each trade. After studying for a couple of months, I moved on to paper trading, then to live trading. Did I hit the ground running? Not exactly, I stumbled a few times, and this is where access to Michael paid huge dividends. Whether it was asking him questions directly or reading his blog, assurance was right around the corner. As an owner of my own company, watching how Michael made himself accessible to students and non-students alike, always responding to questions, but without surrendering his belief in who he is or what he does, taught me a great lesson on how to run my firm. It has been a little over a year since I started Availeth Capital, and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it would not be in existence if it wasn't for Michael Covel 's work and the passion he puts into it. See, if he hadn't written ‘Trend Following' I would've never been introduced to the only strategy that does ‘Make Millions in Up or Down Markets'."
—Todd Miller
"There are no hollow promises [on TurtleTrader.com]. Instead, every statement asserting the power of these methods is backed up with empirical data and coupled with the caveat that the key to trading success is discipline, trading the markets every day and money management (or to ‘preserve capital until more favorable price trends reappear'). This site offers no comfort to those who are looking for a quick buck or the Holy Grail, and the proprietors don't seem to suffer fools gladly. The message is open, honest, straightforward and makes no hyped-up promises. It sticks to the facts; it is one of the best system trading sites for futures traders I have seen."
—Gibbons Burke
"I have only read your books but I think they are as good as they come in finance. They are as good, if not better, than the Market Wizards books by Schwager and Leferve's "Reminiscences of a stock operator". They are an absolute read for anyone with a job in finance. I recently quit my job after 10 yrs as a trader at Morgan Stanley to start my own hedge fund, together with a colleague of mine. A majority of the risk in the fund will be allocated to trend following concepts in various time frames of stocks, sector and index futures."
—Johan Sallfors
"As a subscriber to your original flagship, and occasional fan writing in, I must say, what a great text! I am referring to the latest edition of ‘Trend Following'. After it came in the mail, I devoured it over the course of the last couple of days, and what coincidental timing, it served as a refresher, and has helped me stay on track with my own trading (Yes, in the past I've taken "hits", but I turn them around, an outcome less due to me and more due to the risk management stressed by the trend follower approach). A few years ago, that would have been a devastating loss of a limb as opposed to the temporary pain of a pulled muscle, all in service to the ego and the desperate need to be "right", even when the account equity says you're "wrong". In fact it was just such a loss several years ago that led me to your course over three years ago, which, funny enough, as I think about it's "great expense", has repaid itself many times over in various trades. As for what some reviewer noted on your website, dismissive of trend following, it's very clear he didn't do his homework (As an aside, may I say you have no need to defend your work with retorts or responses, so please consider what Mr. Ed Seykota might say about your exchange with him and ask yourself what you are getting out of any "back and forth" exchanges). We know such reviewers get a paycheck no matter what, and are therefore indifferent to your work, and produce "critical" reviews lacking critical thought, driven by conventional thinking and a deadline, which are a disservice to all. Your work, and the results of it's most focused and disciplined practitioners have, and will speak itself in favor of trend following. Those who can't think for themselves might not be among your potential readership anyway. As an aside, I recall a chart you presented once about Mr. Dunn's results, during his rough patch earlier this decade, and I was reminded by your coverage of Mr. Dennis' trading history in your work, and what some of his students and successors were counseling in terms of the trading sizes... that anything is possible, a temporary "bad patch" might have been encountered by his system. And indeed it was proven to be the case, just temporary. So, even if such empirical "proof", as Mr. Dunn's brief downturn, might be used by those who were too lazy to read your books and dismiss you, you would see in due time overwhelming proof to trump such data cherry-picking of drawdowns and brief "rough patches". The bucking bronco that shakes a trend follower about at times eventually leads us to greener pastures. Could we say that for the latest incarnation of LTCM? Recent news of a new bond arbitrage fund, a third go-around for its founder, after bombing over a decade ago and prompting the first of many Moral Hazardous bailouts, followed by a closing of a second-firm in 2009, might succeed (anything is possible) but may I point out that Mr. Dunn and others like him (Jerry Parker and Salem Abraham) never needed a "bailout" or a fresh (re)start, just time and the risk management disciplines of true trend following. Thank you for your fine work, it helped give me tools to navigate through market waters both calm and/or treacherous."
—Edward
"I have been a follower and a student of Trend Following since 1998. I was first introduced to Trend Following by a friend of mine working as a proprietary FX trader for a global American investment bank who had an office in my home town of Sydney Australia. He has since moved on from being a proprietary gold Bullion trader, to now becoming the principal of his own Hedge fund. I was introduced by this friend to "the Turtle Trader" rules at the same time, and have gone on to prosper and generate an incredible and awe inspiring life for myself and now my young family... The principles and system of technical Analysis based system trading has made an impact on many areas of my life, including: financial,spiritual, and physical improvements. This has come about by what I personally believe is the "complete" commitment I desired and now have to live a completely satisfied and grateful lifestyle. I believe I would not be in the fortunate position myself and my Family are in today if it was not for people like yourself Michael. Your contribution to Trend Trading is such a marvelous basket of awe inspiring products, which can only benefit those who really believe in creating contribution to those around them, like ourselves. Gone forever from my life is the "Blah Blah Blah", of thinking that I will "never be satisfied" with my current position in my life. Living life with my favorite Commandment: Thou shalt Not Judge. As I am a true believer in Technical Analysis based System Trading. I thank you for keeping the flame well and truly alight on spreading the Gospel of Trend Following."
—Pete Mitchell
"Here's my testimonial for your trading system flagship: Many years ago, before I learned about how Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt breed traders like "turtles" and Michael Covel educated the World on the "trend following way"... I was a losing trader and cursed – "cut my profits short, hold onto the losers" all the time. Soon I found trading like that could bankrupt me very quickly, then I found out about Mike's Turtle Trader website and his trading system course. I have to thank Mike for his in-depth research on this subject and a proven way for traders to make money – simply by following the trends (not that simple for most, really). Today, I could make profits from the market better than I could ever imagine, using my own developed trend following based methodology. And I must admit that Mike's trading system course has made positive contributions to my success in trading and managing my students' money."
—Brendon Wong
"I am not a well known trader, but I do credit your two books, along with Jack Schwager's first two Market Wizards books, as being essential to my transformation into a consistent, winning trader. Back in 2008, I was a recent college graduate employed at the world's largest mutual fund company. While earning my Series 7 license, my job was to talk to students all day on the phone and provide them with whatever service they required. Consequently, I was the reassuring, "voice of reason" they would hear when they called us during the Fall 2008 market collapse. I spent those days talking to retirees who were losing their life savings, confused traders who up to that point had never experienced a bear market quite like the one we were experiencing, and uninformed, American workers asking me why their 401ks were down so much. We were told to feed them lines like, "You haven't really lost anything until you have sold" and "Prices going down just means it is a better time to buy." I heard the fear and pain in our students' voices and, even then, I knew I wasn't helping by telling them what they wanted to hear, but I did not know what else to tell them. As a result of this experience, I vowed never to let myself get into that situation. I knew that with so many people losing money, there had to be investors out there making that money on the other side. My mission then became to find out who these winning traders were and what they did to put themselves on the right side of the trade. I left that company, and with it, the "buy and hold" mindset they employed. I started doing my own research and reading, and one day came across your book Trend Following in the bookstore. I was immediately drawn to its subtitle describing how I could learn to make millions in up or down markets, and left the store with the book in hand. Over the next couple of days, I devoured its contents, feeling like I had stumbled across the secret I had been searching for. This was the winning philosophy I needed to study. Around that same time, I also read Jack Schwager's Market Wizards books, and particularly enjoyed the Richard Dennis interview which described how he taught a group of traders how to become systematic trend followers. Once I saw that you had written another book telling the story of these "Turtles", I immediately started reading it and saw for the first time how a very simple strategy could yield consistent, high profits. This was my turning point. Fast forward to the present day. I am free. I am no longer a slave to the markets or the financial media. While it seems the majority of the trading world is still obsessed and fretting over what the market will do next, I relax in knowing that the price and my systems will lead the way and put me on the right side of any major move, and I have your two books to thank for helping me get to this point. My goal is to become a "Market Wizard" myself, and it is trend following that will get me there."
—Andrew Adams
"I have been thinking quite a bit about your requests for testimonials. I just want to share the impact that your website and two books both The Complete TurtleTrader and Trend Following have had on my thinking and aspirations. When I took an original interest in investing I read a biography of Warren Buffett, I then sought to follow in his footsteps. I bought numerous books on Value Investing; I was determined to become a CFA. When I originally checked out your website, I was very skeptical. However, when I read the review by Bill Miller, I decided to see what this was all about. I read The Complete TurtleTrader first. I couldn't believe it. I was just as average as some of these people. I thought "Hey, I can really do this!" This was almost shocking that these people with two weeks of training were able to make so much so easily. I read Trend Following next. It was even more revealing. The most shocking thing was the shear number of traders who are trend followers. Their returns are just as good as Buffett and other famous fundamental investors, but I had never heard of them. They simply don't seem to have the respect of the media. I also realized that this wasn't as simple I had thought, but it was entirely learnable. This book and website are the starting points. I have a new direction to take with my investing. I have to say that it was the most refreshing read on investing I have ever read. I look forward to later this year purchasing your = and learning even more. I hope to turn all of this into a career soon. Thank you for creating your company, so that others can learn to be turtles as well."
—Bruce Selby, Enid, OK
"To be honest, I had no idea what trend following was all about, nor had I ever heard anyone talk about it before attending one of your talks. As I found out after listening to your presentation, it's been around for quite some time, and practiced by many successful investors/traders. It sounded like it was one of the best kept secrets in town! Everyone is always looking for that "magic bullet" or a "sure way" to make money, but as your books/work has shown, nothing beats sheer hard work, countless hours of testing and trading based on one's own systems and theories, and most importantly, learning to stick to such a system rather than rely on one's own whim and fancies. I always thought it was about who had the brains, but that only gets you so far in getting to be a great trader. Thank you very much for your excellent books, website and work to spread the word. Best wishes from Singapore"
—Lin
"I have read and very much enjoyed both your ‘Trend Following' and ‘Complete TurtleTrader' books — how refreshing to find such clear, concise, no bull analysis. I am interested in purchasing the training but want to make sure it is appropriate for the markets I want to begin with. In particular I am most comfortable starting with ETFs (and mutual funds — though I find myself going more with ETFs because of the liquidity). I noted that most of the trend followers were in the commodity markets — but the texts and your site seem to indicate the basic approach would work with ETFs (though the returns may not be as dramatic). Am I correct in my impression? Thanks for your consideration — and thanks again for your work. Please let me know if you need more information to respond to my question."
—Steve M.
"My name is D. L. and I am reading with much interest your book about Turtle traders [The Complete TurtleTrader]. I was Pillsbury's wheat trader in the pits from 1980 to 1983, and traded size with C&D many times. [Richard] Dennis, [Tom] Willis, the O'Briens, etc. You are correct – we (Pillsbury) were huge traders, and we had vast amounts of info at our disposal. Pillsbury was deadly when compared to the Cargills of the world in those days because we all had our own profit center trading accounts in addition to working the enormous commercial hedge balances. Cargill and the others had employees, but Pillsbury had traders. They did not stand a chance... Good job with the book [The Complete TurtleTrader]."
—D. L.
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