Ep. 200: Tom Basso Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

My guest today is Tom Basso, the trader most famously known as "Mr. Serenity" in Jack Schwager's "New Market Wizards". Basso, now retired, was a stock and commodities trader who was president and founder of Trendstat Capital Management. He is the author of two books, "Panic-Proof Investing" and "The Frustrated Investor". Basso became a registered investment advisor in 1980, a registered commodities advisor in 1984, and was elected to the board of the National Futures Association in 1998.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

• Location independence
• Making sure trading doesn't take up your entire life
• Stoicism
• Trend following in the emotional arena
• Mental exercises
• The psychology of trend following
• The "observer self"
• The mental aspects of success
• The importance of being able to lose small amounts of money
• Why trend following does so well when the black swans hit
• Basso's daily routine and the importance of routine in daily life. Covel and Basso also go through listener questions such as whether Basso would make the same trading decisions that he did from the start
• Money management v. trading
• Tinkering with current systems
• Knowing when it's a regular drawdown v. something really going the wrong way
• Whether Basso is a one-system kind of guy v. multiple systems

Jump in!

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I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show.

To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/

You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

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Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!