For the past year, I’ve been completely immersed in my research — analyzing thousands of years of market data, poring over research papers, and fine-tuning my trading algorithms. 

Looking back, I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out something so fundamental. When it finally clicked, I couldn’t help but laugh. Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many times I’d heard about this concept without truly understanding it.

Seminal books on markets, like The Market Wizards and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, have always highlighted this as the main character. 

And it’s not just about markets—it’s everywhere: in business, technology, and beyond. It’s the most natural thing in the world, yet most people resist it. What I’m talking about is trends—more specifically, momentum.

We are often our own worst enemies here. As intelligent individuals, we see a trend, and it feels natural to go along with it. So we do. 

Then one day, we’re riding high, gloating about how great this trending thing is—whether it’s tech stocks, mullet haircuts, Vanilla Ice, or smoking. And just when we go all in, the trend reverses, leaving us looking foolish.

After getting burned a few times by jumping on trends too late, many people decide that the smart move is to become skeptical—a contrarian. Contrarians always sound clever. They can list countless reasons why something won’t work and often make a lot of sense… but they can still be wrong.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with skepticism or contrarian thinking. In fact, skepticism is part of what makes trends so powerful—it creates resistance that trends must overcome to persist.

But here’s the thing about trends: they often go further and last longer than anyone expects. This is especially true during crises when emotions run high and people panic-sell everything. 

Ironically, that’s when trend-following strategies tend to perform best.

The Power (and Paradox) of Trend-Following

Trend-following seems simple: buy when prices are rising and sell when they’re falling. But its simplicity masks its complexity. 

According to efficient market theory, trends shouldn’t exist because markets are supposed to price all available information instantly. Yet, in reality, human emotions, delayed decision-making, and prolonged economic cycles create fertile ground for trends.

Behavioral quirks play a huge role here—our natural aversion to losses outweighs our attraction to gains, driving irrational decisions that fuel these patterns. It’s an instinct rooted in survival; historically, hearing rustling leaves might have signaled a predator nearby, prompting us to flee without hesitation.

However, trend-following doesn’t work universally across all markets at all times. Some markets are more conducive to trends than others. The broader your portfolio—the more markets you can trade—the better your opportunities become. 

For instance, during global crises, when everything seems to be falling apart, diversified trend-following strategies tend to outperform traditional buy-and-hold approaches dramatically.

This is where systems come into play. 

Systems provide consistency and remove emotional bias—something humans struggle with deeply. 

My work involves speaking with family offices, fund managers, proprietary traders, and individual investors who focus primarily on global macro investing. A recurring theme in these conversations is their fixation on waiting for crises or pricing mismatches to exploit.

When equities trend higher in calm conditions—like in 2021 or early 2024—they often underperform because they’re too focused on anticipating disruptions rather than riding existing trends. 

For example, this year they only started gaining ground after the Yen carry trade unwind shook markets on August 5th.

Many of these investors are now keenly interested in incorporating trend-following into their strategies—and the first thing they ask about is crypto.

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Crypto has become a hot topic because many investors recognize that it’s an underinvested space with significant potential for growth. 

When we discuss crypto momentum systems, I often share a little secret: the same system I use for crypto works across all asset classes—equities, futures, commodities—you name it.

For instance:

• I used this system to go long on $TSLA at $239 in September (now above $450).
• It got me long on $AAPL at $229 in November (now above $258).
• The same system signaled a long position on Cocoa at $7,500 in November (now at $10,876).
• It even worked for $SPY in September around $560—I exited just before the FOMC dump last week at $604.

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The beauty of this system lies in its versatility and consistency across markets.

When we finally dive into crypto specifically, we approach it as just another trending market—not as some speculative playground for degenerate gamblers (though there’s some truth to that stereotype). 

The key is focusing on the market’s behavior rather than its hype.

For example:

• Our system fired a bull market signal for Bitcoin back in 2023 at around $28K—and it’s still holding long today..

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One of my favorite aspects of this system is how it allows traders with relatively small accounts to grow their capital faster than they could with traditional investments. 

By following proven principles and leveraging momentum across diverse markets — including crypto — you can achieve incredible results.

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