How would you describe your job?

I advise clients regarding their financial investments based on my research and beliefs about where the markets will go in the future. 

What led you to look at the particular markets you specialize in instead of another tradable?

I very much enjoy following all markets, as they move in different directions. However, I especially like precious metals which represent “real” assets and currencies whose fluctuations reflect the always-changing worldwide economic conditions.

Do you look at any fundamental or economic inputs to develop your opinions?

I mostly rely on technical patterns and signals which I believe provide a more disciplined guidance of market entry and exit points than fundamental analysis and valuation.

Can you share any longer term market opinions?

Since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the deflation scenario is well established. From time to time, big injections of money by governments cause a countertrend to this scenario. In deflation, all assets are

Sherpa Funds in Singapore is a small team with over 50 years trading experience, spread between London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore. We have worked for Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, Bankers Trust and TD Securities and dealt in Foreign Exchange, Interest Rates, Emerging Markets, and Credit products. In 2010 we decided to channel our experience to create proprietary trading algorithms for liquid markets.

Primarily we wanted to eradicate human emotion from the whole trading process, but of course we also wanted to maximize long term growth, minimize negative return volatility and reduce the occurrence of large downside losses. We focused our back testing from 2003 on “liquid markets” such as G11 currencies, equity indices, interest rate futures and a handful of globally liquid commodities. We programmed all kinds of traditional forms of technical analysis (including DeMark indicators), mathematics, historical volatility measures etc. and began writing and back-testing rules. We quickly found

Michael W. Covel is the author of “Trend Commandments” and “The Little Book of Trading.” Mr. Covel’s  past bestsellers include “Trend Following” & “The Complete Turtle Trader.” His trend following books have been translated into over 10 languages.

In 2009, Mr. Covel directed the documentary film “Broke: The New American Dream.” He has presented live to audiences in Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Macau, Miami, Paris, São Paulo, Tokyo and Vienna. Mr. Covel’s research firm (www.trendfollowing.com) has been training trend following traders since 1996, across over 70 countries. His original website was TurtleTrader®, which has drawn millions of visitors.

Mr. Covel holds a B.A. in politics and government from George Mason University and an MBA from The Florida State University.

A note from Michael Covel:

“For 15 years, I have pushed hard to define trend following standards through books, film, web, and live