Commodity Trading & Trend Following

What truly brings about success in Managed Futures? Is super intelligence needed for success in managed futures. After being involved in managed futures and commodity trading for years and seeing every mistake possible ( plus the ones I made). I have found the holy grail for managed futures. It is not a secret system or indicator… it is simply

Discipline & Patience

Using mechanical system trading for managed futures these aspects along with strong risk control can assist investors in their goal of long term compounding of wealth. I believe in trend following. This further underscores the fact that intelligence is not an issue in success of managed futures. The fact is no one knows the future nor knows more than you do. Once you realize you don’t know the future…and you don’t need to in order to succeed in managed futures you have started to find the holy grail of managed futures trading. The great trend followers know this. They know the news of the day is not what gets them into a trade. Rather they have a thought out plan ..that is simple and basic in many cases which is based on a thought out plan…and more so a thought out risk management system ( such as not more than 1% risk per trade of total equity).
Discipline means following your trading plan… or staying with your commodity trading advisor when they go through the eventual ugly draw down. Have a long term horizon ( 10 years). Realize that any trade means nothing if you are following your trading plan ( or commodity trading advisors trades) that has strong risk aspects…

Patience is realizing nothing has to happen. Patience means potentially going through a draw down that can be extended for a long period of time. Managed Futures trading is like a football game. The key is not to score every quarter but rather win the football game even if that means all the points are scored in the last quarter.

Discipline & Patience the holy grail for managed futures

THE RISK OF LOSS IN TRADING COMMODITIES CAN BE SUBSTANTIAL. YOU SHOULD THEREFORE CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER SUCH TRADING IS SUITABLE FOR YOU IN LIGHT OF YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION. THE HIGH DEGREE OF LEVERAGE THAT IS OFTEN OBTAINABLE IN COMMODITY TRADING CAN WORK AGAINST YOU AS WELL AS FOR YOU. THE USE OF LEVERAGE CAN LEAD TO LARGE LOSSES AS WELL AS GAINS. IN SOME CASES, MANAGED COMMODITY ACCOUNTS ARE SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL CHARGES FOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISORY FEES. IT MAY BE NECESSARY FOR THOSE ACCOUNTS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO THESE CHARGES TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL TRADING PROFITS TO AVOID DEPLETION OR EXHAUSTION OF THEIR ASSETS. THE DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT CONTAINS A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL RISK FACTORS AND EACH FEE TO BE CHARGED TO YOUR ACCOUNT BY THE COMMODITY TRADING ADVISOR (”CTA”).