OI16: Return Stacking: Form, Function & Friction ft. Corey Hoffstein and Adam Butler

Corey Hoffstein and Adam Butler joins to unpack the mechanics of stacking returns inside an ETF — not as a branding exercise, but as a way to navigate the hard constraints of scale, structure, and investor behavior. They break down how Return Stacked blends top-down replication with a bottom-up trend engine, why most investors misunderstand what replication actually captures, and where the fault lines lie between mutual funds and ETFs. From margin management and bid-offer spreads to the limits of liquidity in a product built for growth, this conversation surfaces what it really means to package active strategies for a public wrapper — and what gets lost, or found, in the process. ----- 50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE ----- Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website. IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here. And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here. Learn more about the Trend Barometer here. Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast. Follow Moritz on Twitter. Episode TimeStamps: 02:08 - Introduction to Corey Hoffstein & Adam Butler 09:06 - How Hoffstein and Butler see the trend following industry going forward 12:24 - The possibilities and constraints of trading ETFs 20:52 - The philosophy behind their trading strategy 27:26 - How they calibrate their model to accommodate markets changes 32:03 - How they incorporate replication in their strategy 35:50 - Their process behind capturing beta 46:42 - The benefits of adding a longer tail for markets 49:25 - How much volatility can trend followers tolerate? 54:23 - How they maintain balance in their trend following portfolio 57:37 - Implementing different types of return...