Top Traders Unplugged With Niels Kaastrup-larsen | Engaging Conversations With The Top Traders & Investors

Jerry Parker takes us inside 2014 for his firm, and how his models reacted to the Swiss Franc move in January of 2015. He looks at the year and makes a case for trend following as an asset class, as well as highlights what we can learn from a year like 2014.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:How the year ended up for Jerry’s firm.The date when his system started getting short Crude Oil.What they could have done better in 2014.How he dealt with the Swiss Franc move in January 2015 and how many ATR he made and lost on 2 different CHF positions.The minor changes they’ve made to increase diversification of their trading systems.What he wishes for 2015.-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP for Rick Rule's Symposium: Once in a life-time natural resource insights from the BEST investors in the world via a first-class livestream or Live event!Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:List

In this year-end-review, we take a look at how 2014 might be seen many years into the future. Is this when “trader-less” systematic trading caught on? We take you into the workings of a 1-year-old trading technology company, how they succeeded, and where they are going in the future.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:It was their first year of trading under the public eye.How consistent the statistics were the entire year.How the backtest matched up with live data in 2014.What led to their profits and where they lost money.Why it’s hard to draw conclusions that tie trades back to world events.How they made a lot of money in the first half of the year when other trend followers were having a difficult time.About their one-year birthday party.The improvements they made during the year.How 2015 will see a “refined” interest in trend following CTAs.-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP

In this year-end-review, we discuss the year for CTAs and short term traders, as well as the recent collapse of the Euro/Swiss Franc peg and how that affected the models of Quest Partners. Nigol discusses his goals and thoughts for 2015 and reflects on a 2014 that saw his firm start two new strategies and take in new investment.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:How Quest Partners did in 2014.Why fixed income was the highest contributor to his gains during the year.What models did well in 2014.What the Euro/Swiss Franc collapse can teach us about risk management.How do we prepare for the unthinkable?The details of how his models reacted to the Swiss Franc surge.What the highlights of 2014 were for Nigol.About the two hedge strategies that they started in 2014.How investors should insure they don’t repeat 2011 and 2012.How the “Black Box” of CTAs is not as mysterious as it used t

In this Year End Review, we discuss the major events and unexpected market trends in 2014 as well as the major Swiss Franc move at the start of 2015. Scot Billington discusses his firm’s performance what they learned from their losses and gains, and how they evolved their models. He also talks about why they were able to keep losses low in 2014.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:An overview of what happened in 2014 and where they made money.Which factors contributed to profits in 2014 and which factors were the laggards.Dissecting the market effect of sliding oil prices in 2nd half of 2014 and the “un-pegging” of the Swiss Franc to the Euro.Evolving perspectives on risk management in response to events of 2014.Deconstructing the Optimal Program and how to mitigate risk in higher leverage environments.Actions taken to keep a typical program or an Optimal Program from going to zero.Cha

Peter Kambolin comes from the short term CTA space, and thus has a different perspective than some of our previous guests for our Year in Review theme this month. He discusses how the events in Crimea and Russia shaped markets, how divergence played a role, and how his firm made small changes to models and even added a new product line in 2014.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:How the year went for Peter and his two different strategies that his firm trades.Why it was a challenging year for mean-reversion type strategies.What markets did well in his portfolio.What he learned from 2014 and what he would do differently.The minor adjustment they made to the model in October.How they adjusted or reacted to world events in 2014.Why they don’t trade certain markets because most trades are not made by humans.What would divergence do for his trading models.How they improved their backtestin

How do clients understand a trading strategy so that they stick by the firm in hard times? How do investors make sense of when things go well for the CTA industry. We dive into these questions and more on this next episode, a year-in-review from Anders Lindell of IPM.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why 2014 was a model-proving year for IPM.How relative bond trading worked so well for his firm.How the world events of 2014 affect how much risk people take on in general.Why his models got the Russian Ruble wrong.Anders’ new role within IPM that was a highlight for him during last year.How conversations with investors changed over the year.How Anders thinks about divergence in context with the market’s past history.How he makes sure that clients know what they are buying into.Why he wants a normalization from the central banks.-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP for Rick Rule's Symposi

Bastian Bolesta reviews 2014 and details the ups and downs of the year for his firm and the managed futures industry as a whole. In this episode, he discusses the start to the year that he wants to forget, the return of seemingly normal volatility, and the profitable 4th quarter.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:How the first half of 2014 was a continuation of 2013 for Deep Field Capital.How the “fellows” in their trading program evolved during the year.What markets contributed to their growth.What markets they lost in during 2014.The automated system they use to choose what markets they trade.How the markets started to behave in a more “normal” way in the second part of 2014.What his highlight was for the year.Why to be careful of accepting assets that are chasing past performance.-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP for Rick Rule's Symposium: Once in a life-time natural resource ins

Our next Year-in-Review conversation comes from a manager who considers 2014 to have been a disappointing year for his firm. As a trend follower in the currency markets, Chris has unique insights into what shaped 2014 and how the next couple of years look for his industry. He also shares the importance of having discipline and sticking to your systematic models, which builds investor confidence.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why the year was a disappointment for Insch Capital.As a currency trader, how he differs from firms that trade different markets.How the carry trade has all but disappeared.How he reacted to world events in his business.Why he is very proud that Insch stayed the course over 2014.What he thinks of the emerging currencies.How his investors felt about 2014.Why he is hopeful for more divergence in the years to come.How Chris will try and avoid a repeat of th

Our next year-in-review is from a recent guest who discusses the roller coaster feel to 2014, and why it was a good year for the CTA industry. He talks about what his firm learned from 2014 and why he is very excited about this year.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:The ups and downs of 2014 from Tim’s perspective.What markets contributed most for his firm during the year.What markets he wished he did better in for 2014 and what he learned from those market shifts.The kinds of strategies they trade and what stood out as working well.What big worlds events are visualized in the markets and how they affect the strategies.How Auspice grew in 2014 and what were the drivers of that growth.What changed in their research process in 2014.Why Tim is very excited about the market environment in 2015.Why he wants to make sure investors sign up with his firm for the right reasons, not just chas

In this 2014 year-in-review, Karsten Shroeder looks at the CTA industry and give some advice on how to look at 2014 with a rational and objective eye. He also has insights into how 2015 will be for the CTA industry and how to educate more clients to the advantages of managed futures.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:How the year evolved for Amplitude and it’s strategies.How the CTA industry did in 2014 in Karsten’s opinion.What models did well last year.How hard it is to shape models and make guesses based on world events that affect the markets.What Karsten learned from 2014.How they have increased their research team.Why his firm welcomes divergence in the markets.Why educating clients is very important.What diversification can do for clients in their portfolios.Why not to use 2014 as a reference point and say that this markets new returns for CTAs.What Karsten wishes for 2015.---

For January 2015, we will be revisiting with previous guests on the show to find out how their businesses grew and changed in 2014, and what the year was like overall for their industries.In our first Year-In-Review episode, Jason Gerlach, the first-ever guest of Top Traders Unplugged, looks at 2014 from a long-term trend following perspective.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why 2014 was a great year for Sunrise Capital.What markets were responsible for much of their performance in 2014.The most challenging markets for Sunrise Capital last year.About their longer-term trend following strategies.How world events shaped market changes in 2014.About the oil collapse of 2014.How volatility returned to markets last year.How long-term trend following is getting more attention than before.How to avoid 2015 becoming like 2009 for this industry.If & When to turn down clients.How diverg

In the second part of our talk with Tim Pickering, we dive into the details of his firm and the challenges that he has to overcome as a business owner and entrepreneur. Tim has some valuable life lessons for managers who are just getting started. He also dives into the different ways investors should carry out their due diligence and why he wanted to become a manager in the first place.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:The details of Auspice’s programs and what makes them different from other managers.What discretionary traders are good at and how Tim captures lessons from them in a systematic model.How he implements the system in practice.How Tim measures risk.How he copes with being in a drawdown.What he has learned from the drawdowns that Auspice has been through.What keeps him up at night.What questions he brainstorms with his research team currently.How to detect if a model is

What is the difference between simply following a trend and capturing it? Why is growth not consistent and gradual and why do we want it to be?Learn answers to these questions and more in this week’s episodes. Niels chats with the founder of a seasoned trend-follower in Canada, who knew he wanted to go into the financial markets since his university days. His story of working for large investment banks to starting his own firm will inspire current managers and hopeful managers alike.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why Tim tries to get away from being labelled as one thing or another.About growing up on a farm in Canada.How he knew he wanted to be a trader.How his experience in the energy markets affected the way he ran his business when he started it.Why discipline is so important for the kind of manager that Tim is.Why he has stuck with the theme of trading commodities.What

Rob Hartman knows that showing up is half the battle when it comes to work in any industry. But his viewpoint as a solo fund manager give us deep insight into the inner-workings of a firm and how it deals with drawdowns, track record, and investors’ questions. In Part 2 of our conversation with Rob, we dive into his models and programs and how each of them works. We also learn about Rob’s background that helps round out this picture of a successful manager.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why Hannah Montana has some life lessons to teach.Rob’s track record and how to read it.What happened when he changed his strategy.The details of the programs he runs.How Vanguard, his flagship product, works.How he manages his momentum trades, or trend following trades.Why his thoughts on position sizing have evolved over time.How he conducts his research and why he doesn’t do any discretion

In starting any business, you run into unexpected roadblocks and challenges, and you learn something from each mistake. Our next guest is the founder of a trading firm who has grown his business twice and learned how to overcome the barriers in his way. We can learn a lot from someone who is ready for the unexpected whether it is good or bad.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:About his childhood in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania.Rob’s interest in music and sports.How his early Rock and Roll career faired and how he went into the financial industry.How he got hired at IBM.His years at IBM and the lessons it taught him.How his fascination for trading started after he began a consulting business.The tipping point: when he went full-in to the trading business.How he learned about different strategies and tested them.When he came upon trend following and what made him st

Welcome to Part 2 of our conversation with Dave Sanderson. In this episode we explore his trading program in detail, from the markets the firm trades to how they describe their program to investors. We also explore the challenges that he goes through as a business leader, dealing with drawdowns, and why optimism is so important to Dave.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Why Dave believes that QIM is a unique firm in a reasonably similar category as KFL Capital Management.How to describe Krystal to investors and why it can be a challenge.About the length of time it takes for Krystal to compute the data and make a decision.Why the breakthroughs in computational power are supporting KFL Capital Management to make their systems faster each year.The markets KFL trades.Expected drawdown and volatility Krystal expects.How Dave expects to deal with drawdown environments.Research cycles withi

Our next guest on Top Traders Unplugged is the CEO and Co-Founder of KFL. In this episode we explore their trading strategy and uncover the fundamental differences between what they are doing that makes them so different from traditional alternative investment organizations.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Transitioning from commercial litigation to wholesale mutual fund vendingHow Dave Sanderson was exposed to alternative investments in the first placeThe convincing required to get top big data scientists to work on financial challengesThe comical story of how carefully big data scientist come to conclusionsWhat Dave Sanderson loves to do when he isn’t working directly on KFL Capital ManagementHow Dave Sanderson sees the deviation between machine learning and systematic tradingWhat it means to exist in a deluge of big dataHow Dave Sanderson and KFL pe

In the second part of our interview with Bastian, we talk about the ins and outs of his trading program and how they came to create the current trading system that they run now. Niels talks with Bastian about drawdowns, risk management, and how investors should read and understand a manager’s track record. Listen in to find out more about Deep Field Capital and learn what it takes to be an successful emerging manager today.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:About the 23 potential markets that Bastian trades, and which ones are actually traded.How he uses a “bus stop” metaphor to explain which markets get picked for trading.How he views risk and how he deals with risk management.If there are certain markets that are better performing for his strategies than others.What kinds of drawdowns he expects his strategy to go through.The three different types of investors that come i

The story of Deep Field Capital’s Founder and CEO is an interesting one. Bastian Bolesta met his future partners whilst spending a semester abroad in China before returning to Germany and then moving to Switzerland to join them. The team also moved from the discretionary trading space to a unique way of systematic trading. Deep Field is a relative newcomer to the industry as they don’t have a 20+ year track record, so our conversation has timely insights for those looking to start a firm and begin managing external client capital.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:Bastian’s background and how he got interested in finance.How he grew up in Frankfurt and went to university there.What he learned from a semester abroad in China and why he returned there after graduating.How he met his future business parters and started their first business.How they went from the discretionary trading mi

In our continued conversation with Roy Niederhoffer, we discuss risk management, drawdowns, why negative correlation is so important to Roy, and what gets him out of bed every morning (and what keeps him awake at night). Learn more about how to create a balanced and diversified portfolio or what it takes to be a manager.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You’ll Learn:What has changed by the fact that more and more trading decisions are made by computers instead of humans.The issue of model decay in Roy’s field.Why he has constructed his trading program the way that he has.His ten-step process from idea generation to putting it into the system. The research process laid out.How his firm does research.How position sizing plays a role in the short term space.How he keeps model slippage to a minimum.Risk management and how Roy deals with it.When to use discretion to reduce risk.What he learns from go