SI234: Trend Followers are minnows, not whales ft. Rob Carver

Today, I'm joined by Rob Carver for the weekly trend following conversation, where we reflect on the takeaways from the CTA series and the performance of the year so far. We discuss parameter and markets selection through research and testing and why Rob dislikes stops in moving average systems, what happens if a brokerage firm fails. We also discuss why you have to be cautious when using dynamic position sizing and Rob’s advice for using backtesting, how articles from big financial media often creates a false or skewed narrative in the way they present data and information, why adding a lot of instruments to your portfolio is not as good an idea as it might seem. And finally we discuss Rob's latest article in the Financial Times and much more. ----- EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder Tool ----- 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 Rob on Twitter. Episode TimeStamps: 02:19 - Reflecting on the TTU CTA series 04:57 - Performance update 09:59 - Q1, Gene: Question about underfitting and overfitting 16:47 - Q2, James: What types of stops are commonly used in moving average systems?  18:49 - Q3, Chris: How far back do you go in backtesting? 22:20 - Q4.1, Kyle: What happens if an FCM goes belly up? 26:37 - Q4.2, Kyle: Questions regarding "Following the Trend" by Andreas Clenow 39:22 - Applying a commission rate for your backtest 44:22 - Q5.1, Matthijs: The optimal moment to roll a contract? 46:14 - Q5.2, Matthijs: View on adding a defensive strategy to a...