George Soros has made a lot of money on shorting the British pound and he might have fundamental reasons because he maybe knows a guy from the Bank of England or whatever. But the bottom line is that Trendstat [our firm], who doesn't know anything about the British economy was in on the same exact trade as Soros, and made a bunch of money too. The thing is that large trends, large movement in the market, are going to create a lot of opportunity. Don't get hung up too much on the buy/sell decision engine on where do you want to buy and where do you want to sell. Because in the end, large movements are going to probably create most of your profits. And that goes for short term trading and long term trading alike. Short term trading you get in and lose one thing that was in your favor and it turns around on you and you have to blow out of it, it's not going to do you any good. You've got to have the big trend. Sure there are the trends in the short term in the day trading or a smaller trend in the big one. But hey if you put a day chart over on the wall or a tick chart over on the wall or if I put a daily chart and I walk across, they all kind of look the same from a distance.
Tom Basso
Tom Basso was originally profiled in the New Market Wizards.
NOTE: If you want to learn about trend following trading in general there is one definitive text: the bestselling classic "Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets" by Michael Covel. If you want to learn about the most famous group of trained trend following traders, the Turtles and their teacher Richard Dennis, "The Complete TurtleTrader" by Michael Covel is the only complete biography (with all of the Turtle rules) available. If you want to learn trend following techniques and systems through advanced home study and or seminars click here.
