As trend following begins to reassert itself, Niels and Nick Baltas dig beneath the surface of recent CTA performance - where the signals are working, why fixed income remains unresolved, and how speed is revealing deeper structural divides. But this episode goes beyond attribution. What if the industry has mistaken correlation shifts for changes in signal speed? What if the very idea of a “trend beta” is flawed? And what if compounding durable returns isn’t about chasing performance, but protecting against path? This is a conversation about design over style, clarity over convention, and the quiet decisions that shape real outcomes.
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50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE
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Episode TimeStamps:
00:50 - Catching up
05:02 - Industry performance update
13:18 - How the speed of trend following strategies is changing
24:13 - Is there a way to define speed differently?
32:19 - Do we have the right definition of a trend index?
38:20 - Brainstorming ideas on how to improve trend following benchmarks
43:50 - The best car needs the best brakes
49:26 - Baltas framework for enhancing trend following performance
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