Top Traders Unplugged

By Niels Kaastrup-LarsenBusiness News Investing Business News

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Top Traders Unplugged episodes

June 06, 2021 143 Systematic Investor Series ft Eric Crittenden – June 7th, 2021
Special guest Eric Crittenden returns to the show today to discuss the fallacies of the typical 60/40 portfolio, the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to begin tightening fiscal policy, Eric’s last appearance on the show which was at the March 2020 stock market bottom, different speeds of Trend Following, why stable returns doesn’t always equate to low risk, the difficulty in being comfortable with doing the opposite of what we’re wired to do, how managed futures can help investor’s portfolios, negative interest rates and flight out of fixed income, what could Trend Following bring to the crypto space, and changing the narrative around Trend Following.
Find out more about Eric and his firm Standpoint here.
If you would like to leave us a voicemail to play on the show, you can do so here.
Check out our Global Macro series here.
Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.
IT's TRUE
1 hr 27 min
June 01, 2021TTU115: Building a Bulletproof Portfolio with Jason Buck of Mutiny Fund
What happens when an unexpected major event occurs and all of your supposedly diversified investments suddenly become correlated, before heading sharply to the downside? Jason Buck and his partner at Mutiny Fund have been thinking about this question for a long-time, and have created a portfolio designed to protect against these ‘Black Swan’, high-volatility events. Jason has been a long-time listener of the show, so it was only right that I invited him on to discuss some of the methods and thinking behind Mutiny Fund, and how these approaches can provide protection and profits during all market environments.
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50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
How Jason got to where he is today
If the initial risks Jason set out to protect his clients against, have changed
Why CTAs could be considered ‘long-volatility’ assets that provide protection during broad market selloffs such as 2020
The benefits of ‘ensemble’ investing
The opposite requirements of building wealth versus keeping wealth
Why a sample size of 100 years is still just an anomaly
Why the typical ‘diverse’ portfolio might be riskier than investors realise
What a ‘long-volatility’ asset looks like
The history of long-volatility assets
The term ‘crisis alpha’ and what it means to him and his clients
How to overcome the challenges of educating investors about volatility-event risks
Whether the addition of long-volatility components to portfolios today has affected his initial approach
Why the Sharpe Ratio is often misunderstood as a risk measurement tool
How much, and why, returns vary among different long-volatility managers
How to approach position sizing with black swan events in mind
Some of the common investor mistakes
How to choose between different Trend Following managers
How to create a strategy for inflationary and deflationary environments
If less-liquid assets can be safely incorporated into a portfolio
How to analyse backtests properly
If Jason uses Gold and Bitcoin in his long-volatility strategies
What keeps Jason up at night in terms of risks

-----

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 [email protected]
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 Jason on Twitter
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
1 hr 18 min
June 01, 2021 115 Protection Against Black Swans & Building a Bulletproof Portfolio with Jason Buck of Mutiny Fund
'The typical pie-chart of diversification ends up being all long-GDP assets, which means these are going to do well in a risk-on environment, when we’re awash with liquidity. The problem is, when we see a sell off or a liquidity event like March 2020, we see the correlations of an ‘uncorrelated’ pie chart go to 1, which means that they all sell off at the same time.' - Jason Buck

What happens when an unexpected major event occurs and all of your supposedly diversified investments suddenly become correlated, before heading sharply to the downside? Jason Buck and his partner at Mutiny Fund have been thinking about this question for a long-time, and have created a portfolio designed to protect against these ‘Black Swan’, high-volatility events. You may have seen Jason Buck alongside another volatility-expert (and previous guest of Top Traders Unplugged) Chris Cole on Real Vision, or listened to his ‘Pirates of Finance’ podcast with co-host Corey Hoffstein (another previous guest of Top Traders Unplugged), but he’s also been a long-time listener of the show, so it was only right that I invited him on to discuss some of the methods and thinking behind Mutiny Fund, and how these approaches can provide protection and profits during all market environments.
Thanks for listening and please welcome to the show our guest Jason Buck.

·
Subscribe on:

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

How Jason got to where he is today
If the initial risks Jason set out to protect his clients against, have changed
Why CTAs could be considered ‘long-volatility’ assets that provide protection during broad market selloffs such as 2020
The benefits of ‘ensemble’ investing
The opposite requirements of building wealth versus keeping wealth
Why a sample size of 100 years is still just an anomaly
Why the typical ‘diverse’ portfolio might be riskier than investors realise
What a ‘long-volatility’ asset looks like
The history of long-volatility assets
The term ‘crisis alpha’ and what it means to him and his clients
How to overcome the challenges of educating investors about volatility-event risks
Whether the addition of long-volatility components to portfolios today has affected his initial approach

'The problem with Sharpe Ratio is that it was originally built as a portfolio tool to measure the portfolio level, but now we measure individual strategies or individual managers with Sharpe, and that was never the intention.’ - Jason Buck

Why the Sharpe Ratio is often misunderstood as a risk measurement tool
How much, and why, returns vary among different long-volatility managers
How to approach position sizing with black swan events in mind
Some of the common investor mistakes
How to choose between different Trend Following managers
How to create a strategy for inflationary and deflationary environments
If less-liquid assets can be safely incorporated into a portfolio
How to analyse backtests properly
If Jason uses Gold and Bitcoin in his long-volatility strategies
What keeps Jason up at night in terms of risks

Connect with Mutiny Fund:
Visit the Website: MutinyFund.com
Follow Jason Buck on Twitter

‘We had a lot of family and friends coming to us and saying, I've read a Nassim Taleb book or Chris Cole's white paper. How do I do this? And if you don't have tens of millions of dollars, there was never a solution. So as entrepreneurs, we figured out there had to be a solution to this, and the piece that was missing was this long volatility, tail risk piece. And so we set out to create that opportunity for retail to get access to this asset class.' - Jason Buck

Subscribe on:
1 hr 18 min
May 30, 2021SI142: How Decentralised Is Bitcoin Really? ft. Rob Carver
Rob Carver is on the show with us today to discuss why Elon Musk & the Chinese government might be proving that Bitcoin may not be as decentralised as first assumed, whether you should adjust your system according to the instrument being traded, some processes for reinvesting profits into your portfolio over time, thoughts on position sizing, different ways of defending against inflation, if short-term Trend Following may actually be as good as long-term Trend Following, and the sweet spot for number of different futures contracts a good system should trade.
-----
50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In this episode, we discuss:
If Bitcoin is really as decentralised as it's reputed to be
Adjusting your system on an individual trade basis
What to do with your trading profits
Defending against inflation
Short-term Trend Following versus long-term Trend Following

-----

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 [email protected]
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:
00:00 - Intro
01:33 - Macro recap from Niels
04:02 - Weekly review of returns
12:15 - Rob’s decision to trade Bitcoin futures
21:28 - Why Bitcoin may not be so decentralised
38:05 - Q1; Dan: Do you think fitting by instrument makes sense for intraday Trend Following?
48:43 - Q2; John: Why does Rob only allocate part of his profits back into his portfolio?
57:19 - Q3; Peewee: If Rob could only trade 5 or 6 futures markets, which ones would he pick?
01:02:54 - Q4; Saed: Do you prefer keeping position size constant across all trades, or adjusting according to volatility?
01:06:38 - Financial Times article: ‘How to Defend Against Inflation’
01:13:47 - Check out the new episode from the Top Traders Unplugged series, coming out soon
01:14:22 - Article from FactorResearch: ‘Short vs Long-Term Trend Following’
01:20:26 - Benchmark performance update
01:21:27 - Recommended listening or reading this week: Mark Rzepcynski's blog post on commodity prices during inflationary periods, Nikhil Shamapant on the Hidden Forces Podcast & Josh Rogin on the Joe Rogan Podcast
01:26:54 - Next week, special guest Eric Crittenden joins us on the show
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
1 hr 30 min
May 30, 2021 142 Systematic Investor Series ft Rob Carver – May 30th, 2021
Rob Carver is on the show with us today to discuss why Elon Musk & the Chinese government might be proving that Bitcoin may not be as decentralised as first assumed, whether you should adjust your system according to the instrument being traded, some processes for reinvesting profits into your portfolio over time, thoughts on position sizing, different ways of defending against inflation, if short-term Trend Following may actually be as good as long-term Trend Following, and the sweet spot for number of different futures contracts a good system should trade.
If you would like to leave us a voicemail to play on the show, you can do so here.
Check out our Global Macro series here.
Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.
IT's TRUE
1 hr 30 min
May 23, 2021SI141: Aligning 'Operation Tempo' with your Trading Personality ft. Mark Rzepcyznski
Mark Rzepczynski joins us today to discuss China’s move to ban Bitcoin trading, the Federal Reserve’s announcement of research into a new central bank digital currency, some of the issues around inflation and how it might affect trading, the psychology of drawdowns and the time in between new highs, how inflation can distort price signals, the recent rise of the ‘Misery Index’, Michael Burry’s huge bet against Tesla, the importance of exits in Trend Following strategies, and matching the right ‘Operation Tempo’ for your trading personality.
-----
50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In this episode, we discuss:
China's recent banning of Bitcoin trading and mining
The Federal Reserve's announcement of a possible new digital currency
Inflation and its effects on trading
The psychology around drawdowns
Price signals and how they can be distorted by inflation
Matching what Mark terms as 'Operation Tempo' with your personality

-----

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 [email protected]
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 Mark on Twitter.
Episode TimeStamps:
00:00 – Intro
02:11 – Macro recap from Niels
05:49 – Weekly review of performance
11:00 – Further discussion on our recent talking point of discretionary versus systematic, including some comments from Top Traders Unplugged community member, Danny
13:38 – Q1; Fernando: Does it get easier with time and experience, to endure drawdowns?
22:40 – Some of the issues around inflation and how that might affect trading
44:30 – Momentum crashes and decision-clustering
57:35 – The importance of matching your personality to the timeframes you trade
01:04:10 – When is the best time to invest in Trend Following?
01:11:28 – Benchmark performance update
01:12:30 - Recommended listening or reading this week: MacroVoices Podcast featuring David Rosenberg
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
1 hr 16 min
May 23, 2021 141 Systematic Investor Series ft Mark Rzepczynski – May 23rd, 2021
Mark Rzepczynski joins us today to discuss China’s move to ban Bitcoin trading, the Federal Reserve’s announcement of research into a new central bank digital currency, some of the issues around inflation and how it might affect trading, the psychology of drawdowns and the time in between new highs, how inflation can distort price signals, the recent rise of the ‘Misery Index’, Michael Burry’s huge bet against Tesla, the importance of exits in Trend Following strategies, and matching the right ‘Operation Tempo’ for your trading personality.
You can find Mark’s latest writings here.
If you would like to leave us a voicemail to play on the show, you can do so here.
Check out our Global Macro series here.
Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.
IT's TRUE
1 hr 16 min
May 16, 2021SI140: Down Markets Are Often a Treasure to Trend Followers ft. Jerry Parker
Jerry Parker joins us today to discuss the benefits of prioritising price over other factors, navigating a high-inflationary environment, how bad markets for average investors can often be great for Trend Followers, how public awareness of a market uptrend can often precede large price drops, the potential drawbacks of trying to standout too much as a money-manager, how classical Trend Following is an increasing rarity in the CTA space, the benefits of investing in Trend Following via a proven manager, the similarities between amateur golfers and traders, the point at which a trend has been ‘confirmed’, and conquering the fear of losses.
-----
50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In this episode, we discuss:
Why you should prioritise price over any other form of data
How bad markets for the average investor is often lucrative for Trend Followers
How mainstream attention to market trends usually means they're about to end
Why money managers shouldn't always try to stand out too much
The increasing rarity of classical Trend Following CTAs
How to embrace the mentality of cutting losses

-----

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 [email protected]
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 Jerry on Twitter.
Episode TimeStamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:55 - Macro recap from Niels
06:07 - Weekly review of returns
13:34 - Stanley Druckenmiller’s recent interview criticising the Federal Reserve
16:17 - Q1 & Q2; Shibojet: What are your thoughts about a dynamic trading system that focuses more on what’s working over any given time-period, rather than a static trading system with rigid criteria? Why don’t Trend Followers trade cash equities?
39:32 - Q3; Aldo: Is it worth trading a small account using micro-futures? What are your thoughts on pyramiding into positions?
50:51 - Conquering the fear of losses
53:45 - How many markets should we trade?
01:06:58 - Benchmark performance update
01:07:56 - CBOE announce new Bond futures
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
1 hr 12 min
May 16, 2021 140 Systematic Investor Series ft Jerry Parker – May 16th, 2021
Jerry Parker joins us today to discuss the benefits of prioritising price over other factors, navigating a high-inflationary environment, how bad markets for average investors can often be great for Trend Followers, how public awareness of a market uptrend can often precede large price drops, the potential drawbacks of trying to standout too much as a money-manager, how classical Trend Following is an increasing rarity in the CTA space, the benefits of investing in Trend Following via a proven manager, the similarities between amateur golfers and traders, the point at which a trend has been ‘confirmed’, and conquering the fear of losses.
If you would like to leave us a voicemail to play on the show, you can do so here.
Check out our Global Macro series here.
Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.
IT's TRUE
1 hr 12 min
May 09, 2021SI139: How to Beat Unpredictable Markets ft. Moritz Seibert
Moritz Seibert returns to the show today to discuss the Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting, the possible raise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, today’s great environment for Trend Following, the unpredictable nature of the markets and future trends, decentralised finance, increasing ESG requirements in the investment industry, the meteoric rise of Lumber prices, new and smaller Bitcoin futures contracts being listed on the CME, thoughts on Ethereum and Ethereum futures, and the possible advantages of being in a Trend Follower in the cryptocurrency space versus the buy & hold speculators.
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50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
In this episode, we discuss:
Berkshire Hathaways's recent annual general meeting
The likelihood of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates
How to overcome the unpredictable nature of markets
Thoughts on De-Fi
Increasing sustainability requirements of the investment industry
The newer, smaller futures contracts being listed on the CME
Trend Following on cryptocurrencies

-----

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 [email protected]
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:
00:00 - Intro
01:21 - Macro recap from Niels
02:49 - Weekly review of returns
11:02 - The Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting
26:24 - Why Lumber prices are on the rise
32:44 - New and smaller Bitcoin futures contracts being listed on the CME
36:50 - Ethereum futures
45:46 - Continued outflows from Cathy Wood’s ARKK innovation ETF
46:42 - Q1; John: What is your methodology for selecting which contract month to trade, and when to roll?
52:46 - Q2; Brian: What topics, articles, blogs, podcasts or books do you recommend for somebody who wants to learn about cryptocurrencies as fast and easy as possible?
59:28 - Benchmark performance update
01:00:11 - Recommended listening or reading this week: 'Why the Price of Lumber Has Soared' on the Odd Lots Podcast and Michael Lewis on the Masters in Business Podcast and Tom Basso on Trend Following Radio
Copyright © 2025 – CMC AG – All Rights Reserved
----
PLUS: Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you in your investment Journey:
1. eBooks that cover key topics that you need to know about
In my eBooks, I put together some key discoveries and things I have learnt during the more than 3 decades I have worked in the Trend Following industry, which I hope you will find useful. Click Here
2. Daily Trend Barometer and Market Score
One of the things I’m really proud of, is the fact that I have managed to published the Trend Barometer and Market Score each day for more than a decade...as these tools are really good at describing the environment for trend following managers as well as giving insights into the general positioning of a trend following strategy! Click Here
3. Other Resources that can help you
And if you are hungry for more useful resources from the trend following world...check out some precious resources that I have found over the years to be really valuable. Click Here
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
1 hr 5 min