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Cem Karsan sits down with Ben Hunt, founder of Epsilon Theory, to explore how narratives shape markets, politics, and decision making itself. Drawing on decades of experience across academia, hedge funds, and applied AI, Ben explains why stories, not data, increasingly drive outcomes in modern markets. The conversation spans unstructured data, inference, common knowledge, and the mechanics of narrative momentum. Together, they examine consumer expectations, inflation silence, geopolitical signaling, and the slow shift away from US dominance. What emerges is a framework for understanding markets as reflexive systems, where perception often matters more than reality.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to [email protected]

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@TopTradersLive & @jam_croissant

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Katy Kaminski joins us to assess the early signals shaping markets in 2026. The conversation explores the resurgence of commodity trends, the role of volatility estimation, and why diversification across markets and speeds matters more than ever. Drawing on new research, they examine dispersion within the CTA universe, the limits of replication, and how volatility targeting quietly determines outcomes. From precious metals to currencies, from crisis alpha to geopolitical risk, this episode offers a grounded look at why trend following thrives during disruption and why regime change remains its natural habitat.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Katy on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @katykam

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

In this episode, Alan Dunne is joined by Dario Perkins to examine why the global macro consensus may be fundamentally misreading the current cycle. The conversation moves from US fiscal stimulus and Federal Reserve credibility to the limits of the K-shaped economy narrative. Perkins challenges prevailing assumptions around AI-driven productivity, labor market weakness, and falling inflation, arguing that policy choices are pushing economies toward overheating rather than stagnation. The discussion extends to bond markets, term premia, Japan’s normalization, Europe’s fiscal pivot, and China’s rebalancing dilemma. What emerges is a picture of renewed growth, rising risks, and a cycle whose ending is now becoming visible.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Alan on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @alanjdunne

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

In this episode, Niels hosts Yoav Git to explore inflation risk, bond fragility, and the changing role of trend following in a world defined by supply shocks and declining trust. Drawing on recent research and market behavior, the conversation examines why traditional bond allocations struggle during inflationary regimes and how commodity trend strategies may offer structural resilience. The discussion spans geopolitics, deglobalization, energy markets, fixed income autocorrelation, and the limits of forecasting macro outcomes. Rather than predicting inflation’s path, the episode focuses on portfolio construction that can endure multiple regimes. What emerges is a disciplined argument for robustness over precision in an increasingly unstable global system.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels on Twitter and Yoav on LinkedIn:

@TopTradersLive & www.linkedin.com/in/yoavgit/

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Today we discuss one of the most popular and influential economic books of the last few decades - The Winner’s Curse. Originally published in 1994, a new version has just been released and we are joined by co-author Alex Imas who wrote the new edition alongside Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler. When are we likely to spend a windfall and when are we likely to save it? When is it most dangerous to bid for business against competitors? And are ‘arbitrage’ opportunities in markets really a free lunch?

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Kevin on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @kcold1

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Today, we are joined by Nick Baltas to examine how narratives, signals, and structural design are reshaping trend following at the start of 2026. The conversation moves from investor storytelling and information digestion to a sober review of what truly drove dispersion in 2025. We explore why speed and universe choice mattered more than expected, why recent outcomes may be misleading, and why reacting to performance is often a mistake. The discussion then turns technical, unpacking new academic research on nonlinear momentum, signal construction, and the deeper mechanics behind trend following’s defensive behavior during stress. The episode closes with a reminder that discipline, not prediction, remains the strategy’s core advantage.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Nick on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @nbaltas

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

As the long era of neoliberal certainty frays, Mark Blyth argues that we are drifting back toward a 19th century world of rival blocs, imperial habits and dangerous illusions. In this conversation, he traces how repeated “software crashes” of capitalism produced inflation, austerity, populism and now a return to industrial policy and great power confrontation. He connects deficits, demographics, migration, and housing with the lived reality of stagnant wages and rising prices. Along the way, he questions central bank mythology, challenges deficit obsession, and asks whether politics can adapt before events force a far harsher reset.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Alan on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @alanjdunne

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

The new year opens with a shift hiding in plain sight. As globalization recedes and the world fractures into spheres of influence, Rich argues this isn’t just a political story - it’s a structural shift that favors trend following. In this episode, he challenges the illusion of control baked into most trading systems: why backtests offer comfort, not readiness; why precision breeds fragility; and why the future isn’t something to predict, but something being built in real time. This is a conversation about trading with humility, designing for persistence, and letting go of the need to know. The signal is now.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Richard on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @RichB118

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

William White returns to assess a world edging closer to systemic stress. Drawing on decades advising central banks, he describes a macro regime defined not by temporary shocks, but by a deep reversal of the forces that once kept inflation low and debt manageable. From de-globalization and demographic decline to energy constraints and fragile supply chains, the conversation traces how rising costs collide with record public and private leverage. White warns that policy makers are trapped between inflationary pressures and debt sustainability, with no clean exit in sight. The discussion closes on AI, currency fragmentation, and the uncomfortable possibility that today’s stability masks a far more dangerous future.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels & Alan on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive & @alanjdunne

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

In part two of our year-end roundtable, the Systematic Investor team goes beyond performance to ask harder questions about the path forward. Are today’s drawdowns a signal of structural change? - or just the cost of staying disciplined in a low-volatility regime? As allocators repackage old ideas under new acronyms and model drift tempts even seasoned managers, the conversation turns to what still holds. From AI and capital efficiency to the quiet value of doing less, this is about defending process when the payoff isn’t obvious - and knowing what not to change when pressure mounts. We close off with out 2026 Outrages Predictions... don't miss them!

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to [email protected]

Follow Niels on Twitter:

@TopTradersLive

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.