Podcasts about nigol koulajian

Today, we are joined by Nigol Koulajian and Mike Harris from Quest Partners, for a conversation on how they use a research driven, quantitative and systematic trading approach to generate alpha. We discuss how they generate convexity and why they have chosen to focus on short-term time frames, why they believe some investors have become too focused on Sharpe and how they use trend following and crowding in their process. We also discuss how they use an adaptive learning technique to understand markets whilst being aware of the dangers of machine learning, the power and importance of data and the potential risks of replicating managers, why liquidity is dynamic and very unpredictable and much more.----------EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder Tool----Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Alan on Twitter.Learn more about Quest Partners.Episode Timestamps:02:08 - Introduction to Quest Partners 03:34 - Their investment philosophy 07:35 - A structural change in markets 15:04 - Too focused on Sharpe? 20:55 - Creating momentum 24:18 - A move toward multi-strat? 37:35 - Managing the crowd 39:13 - The persistency of market environments 41:45 - A type of machine learning? 44:12 - The source of opportunities 48:34 - The "D" word 53:30 - Thoughts on CTA replication 01:00:12 - Being a short term manager 01:02:30 - Liquidity issues and changes in markets...

My guest today is Nigol Koulajian, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quest. Koulajian founded Quest in March 2001. He identified specific strategies using proprietary techniques that have been continuously enhanced over the past twenty-three years and became the basis for the growth of Quest. The firm, based in New York, manages $2.6 billion in assets and employs thirty-seven people as of December 2022. He started the NOK Foundation in 2002, which is committed to promoting the study and practice of yoga and meditation globally. He has acted as a board member of the Omega Institute and David Lynch Foundation.  The topic is Trend Following. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: Hedge fund industry perspective Strategies Risks associated A long-term entrepreneurial perspective Value at risk in the market Sharpe ratio Multiple tail risks in market cycles Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

My guest today is Nigol Koulajian, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quest. Koulajian founded Quest in March 2001. He identified specific strategies using proprietary techniques that have been continuously enhanced over the past twenty-three years and became the basis for the growth of Quest. The firm, based in New York, manages $2.6 billion in assets and employs thirty-seven people as of December 2022. He started the NOK Foundation in 2002, which is committed to promoting the study and practice of yoga and meditation globally. He has acted as a board member of the Omega Institute and David Lynch Foundation.  The topic is Trend Following. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: Hedge fund industry perspective Strategies Risks associated A long-term entrepreneurial perspective Value at risk in the market Sharpe ratio Multiple tail risks in market cycles Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

How do large delta hedging flows of market makers tie in with Central Bank quantitative easing? How do ETF rebalancing's and structured note issuer movements shift markets? We sit down with options guru Hari Krishnan talk through his new book: Market Tremors - Quantifying Structural Risks in Modern Financial Markets. Hari's first book, The Second Leg Down, talked about what investors can do when they're in trouble and how to structure actual options trades to keep bleed under control and maximize protection. This time, he's zooming out and asking how to know when there might be trouble lurking. How we can quantify and identify events like Volmageddon (Feb 2018), the Swiss Franc depeg (Jan 2015), Game Stop run up (2021), and more. In a world where we often get bogged down considering how specific items like this gamma, or that Fed decision, or how large ETFs flows will impact markets, Hari masterfully weaves all those 'agents' together to consider how we apply a real world risk to these agents shifting the distributions we rely on to size investment positions. Enjoy the episode. Chapters: 00:00-03:13=Intro 03:14-06:34 = Volatility - The Last Chance Saloon 06:35-15:20 = There's London Whales Everywhere 15:21-31:55 = Merging Normally Distributed & Networked Chaos 31:56-42:01 = Volmageddon: A Case Study 42:02-54:19 = Big Gamma: Market Making Options / Do Less 54:20-01:09:43 = The Danger of 1 / Volatility Position Sizing 01:09:44-01:17:37 = Takeaways & The Twin Heralds of Risk Follow Hari on Twitter @HariPKrishnan2 and check out his book here. From the episode: Sequencing, Skew, and (option) Strikes with Hari Krishnan The NON-Wisdom of Crowds with Nigol Koulajian of Quest Partners Straddles, SVXY, and (Gamma) Scalping with Logica's Mike Green The Tail Has Wagged the Dog The Swiss (Franc) Isn't All that Neutral Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest. Listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. RCM Alternatives is DBA Reliance Capital Markets II, LLC. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

In through the nose – out through the mouth. In through the nose – out through the mouth. You've now joined a headspace where we think you're prepped to focus in and become one with today's guest. He's a well known CTA, expert researcher, meditation and yoga practitioner, and Founder & CIO of $1.8 Billion in AUM = Quest Partners. Today's guest is none other than Nigol Koulajian, he's been in the business since the early 1990's and has grown to become one of the leading voices in alternative investments. Today, we're talking with Nigol about Covid New York, Nigol's quest to becoming a CTA, what it's like managing more than a Billion dollars of people's hard earned money, assessing price & risk in a portfolio, gaming Sharpe ratios, applying meditation to Quest's quests, how easy it is to replicate hedge fund and CTA performance, Nigol's favorite whitepapers, gaining convexity relative to skew, 30,000 ft view of Quest's programs, “playing the players, not the game,” prioritizing meditation and mindset, and The Quest Indicator Book. Chapters: 00:00-02:03=Intro 02:04-16:51=The Quest to Becoming a CTA 16:52-28:22=Meditation Mindset: Priming the Mind 28:23-51:42=The Power of Positive Skew Models 51:43-01:07:07=Gaming the Sharpe & Playing the Players 01:07:08-01:28:20=The Quest Book 01:28:21-01:31:47=Favorites Follow along with Quest on LinkedIn and on their website, and keep up to date with Nigol here. From the episode: Access Quest's whitepapers and research here Sign up for monthly access to the Quest Book here Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts, and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn, and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest. And visit our sponsor, the CME Group at www.cmegroup.com to learn more about futures and options. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

Kathryn Kaminski and I had the opportunity to sit down with Nigol Koulajian, the founder of Quest Partners, in which he shared his deep insights in many areas of trading. During our conversation, there were a few short segments that I particularly enjoyed and I would love to share them with you here. Below you can learn about Nigols take on the problems with Smart Beta, and also his explanation of Filtering being ͞the Holy Grail. This interview was packed with insight and wisdom so if you would like to hear the full episode then you can do so by clicking here (#101) and also here (#102). The problems with Smart Beta "Nigol: So, the short-term index is flat since inception, or negative or actually down since inception. So yes, "challenging" is, as I said, you’re being extremely gentle. So, why are short-term managers still getting allocation? This is because of diversification, but also because of convexity. If you’re long a put on the market and it’s going to cost you ten percent a year, fifteen percent a year, twenty percent a year, you can get the same protection for five percent a year negative.  Investors who are pricing these things accurately will see a great investment. "...what’s critical is that the short-term space is much more easily crowded" So, lucky for us, we’ve been able to provide substantial alpha relative to the CTA indices, whether short-term or long-term. So, in the short-term space what’s critical is that the short-term space is much more easily crowded. When you’re trading short-term, you’re typically trading more stops and trading on stops intraday rather than VWAPing (Volume Weighted Average Price) or trading market on open, market on close. So, you’re very sensitive to spikes in the market, up or down, and you’re getting whipsawed much more if you have short-term noise. So, what’s critical to do then is to have the right filtering techniques. Of course, you want to buy cheap convexity, and you want to sell expensive convexity, realized in the markets. One way to do this is, if everybody is trading a ten-day channel breakout, you want to short ten-day channel breakout. If you look at the short-term CTA index, you can have seventy percent correlation to it by trading ten-day channel breakouts. I know short-term CTAs are much more short-term than that, but ten-day channel breakout I think has seventy or eighty percent correlation. So, this is kind of like the smart beta version of the short-term CTA index. You want to be shorting that and going long momentum around it. So, if everybody wants to buy the S&P, nobody wants to buy stock number five hundred and one, short the S&P and go long small cap. It’s typical arbitrage of equity long / short. The same thing applies in the CTA space. You want to short smart beta and go long everything around it. In the short-term space, in particular, where you’re highly affected by the liquidity of the markets this becomes very, very critical. So, there are ways to trade mean reversion where it’s kind of like the “lazy man’s trading,” where you want to find the positive convexity around it, the same as I explained with the S&P. Niels: Just curious, maybe on a slightly different tack. You bring up the words “smart beta.”Of course in our industry, and in particularly the trend following space, over the years it has been... Certain firms promote trend following as being a very easy risk premia to replicate, so they sell their products very cheaply. Yet, I have not really seen that these products have outperformed the true veterans in that particular strategy. I’m just curious, but the smart beta products, some of them, have raised billions of dollars because people look at the fees and say, “Oh yeah, it’s easy so we shouldn’t pay so much for it.” So when you say you should short beta and do everything around it, what should you then do? I’m curious whether, in fact, is smart beta (and I’m referring to trend following because it’s easy for...

Kathryn Kaminski and I had the opportunity to sit down with Nigol Koulajian, the founder of Quest Partners, in which he shared his deep insights in many areas of trading. During our conversation, there were a few short segments that I particularly enjoyed and I would love to share them with you here. Below you can learn about Nigols take on the problems with Smart Beta, and also his explanation of Filtering being the Holy Grail. This interview was packed with insight and wisdom. Listen to the https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/nigol-koulajian-quest-partners-101/ (full episode here). Follow Niels on https://twitter.com/toptraderslive%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielskaastruplarsen%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (LinkedIn), https://www.youtube.com/user/toptraderslive%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (YouTube) or via the https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (TTU website). IT's TRUE

Kathryn Kaminski and I had the opportunity to sit down with Nigol Koulajian, the founder of Quest Partners, in which he shared his wealth of experience including life lessons and even his take on the modern scientific trading systems that are used today. One of topics which I particularly liked, and would like to share with you here, was his view on the VIX and Volatility trading within the managed futures industry and also outside of the industry. Listen to the https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/nigol-koulajian-quest-partners-102/ (full episode here). Follow Niels on https://twitter.com/toptraderslive%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielskaastruplarsen%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (LinkedIn), https://www.youtube.com/user/toptraderslive%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (YouTube) or via the https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank (TTU website). IT's TRUE

Kathryn Kaminski and I had the opportunity to sit down with Nigol Koulajian, the founder of Quest Partners, in which he shared his wealth of experience including life lessons and even his take on the modern scientific trading systems that are used today. One of topics which I particularly liked, and would like to share with you here, was his view on the VIX and Volatility trading within the managed futures industry and also outside of the industry. If you would like to listen to the full episode then you can do so by clicking here. Nigol… “Certain investments that don’t have great risk-adjusted returns can temporarily turn into amazing bubbles because the return stream has certain characteristics which give time for other investors to come in. So it becomes very self-reinforcing like a positive feedback loop. There are ways, in certain industries, where you can reinforce that intentionally. If you’re an activist investor, you put on a position and then you say, “Here, I got my position,” and other people come in, you can do great. Effectively, it’s like a pump and dump of penny stocks in the eighties. Crypto currencies are a little bit similar. Traders receive text messages saying, “Buy this!” and “only this much for each account”. "...it’s like a pump and dump of penny stocks in the eighties" So, effectively these things are being a little bit manipulated. In the same way, regulators, if they don’t control these things, it can be very, very harmful for investors in the long-term. In the case of the VIX, starting from the Fed put, starting in 2009, which was when the market was not going to go down fifty percent anymore. It’s only going to go down twenty. Then you had equity hedge funds which said, “Since it’s going to go down only twenty then I’m going to buy at minus fifteen.” Then, because the minus fifteen is there, you have short-term swing traders who bought at minus ten. Then you had short-term CTAs who bought it at minus five, and then you had artificial intelligence or machine learning techniques who said buy it at minus three. So, it’s become very self-reinforcing where effectively people are now justifying that the economy is doing great and that’s why the vol. is low. There’s an aspect of the reality that is that markets lead the economy and not the other way around. I would say, today, what’s going on in the equity world, and the VIX, in particular, has become a very self-reinforcing bubble which is suppressing the vol. in the market. So when an implied vol. in the market comes down; when people sell options in the market until those options expire, effectively you have mean reversion trading. If the market goes down, the options sellers are buyers of that market that is going down, and the option sellers are sellers of the market when it goes up. So they suppress the vol. of the market. Typically, that lasts until the options expire. So, look at the open interest in a market. What drove the implied vol. compression? With options of this maturity, that’s typically when you’re going to see the mean reversion of the market. Then it typically breaks out. So the VIX is quite a serious thing because a lot of, I’m going to say, very sophisticated investors are putting large amounts of money at play in it. Based on volatility and normalized risk techniques they think they’re taking very little risk. “ Niels: “ On that note, Nigol, you mentioned the word manipulation, there’s the VIX, you talked about big trades, and so on and so forth. But, I think there was an article in Bloomberg recently that mentions that on December 20th of last year, 2017, the “VIX elephant” put on a very large position - something like two hundred and sixty thousand lots. The article went on to talk about how relatively easy it is to manipulate the settlement, which has a huge impact if you’re trading options and you’re waiting for expiring, etc, etc. Do you have any thoughts about this?

  “There’s more clarity gained not around the way the markets are, but the way people trade.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) Katy Kaminski and I continue our conversation with Nigol Koulajian, and discuss if his strategies of working with, around, and doing the opposite of what many investors are doing, has given him any advantages? In this episode, we talk about the risk of research and data affecting the market, why he distrusts in many institutional teachings of finance, and what he is looking forward to this year. Thanks for listening and please welcome our guest Nigol Koulajian. Subscribe on: In This Episode, You'll Learn: How savvy investors stay ahead of the curve “The upside of a bubble is it’s easy to convince people to come in.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) Why you need to isolate yourself from the hivemind of mainstream investors Why those using smart beta have not succeeded recently Nigol’s opinion on VIX’s impact in and outside the managed futures industry “Investing is a very complex process where your perception of the market affects future returns.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) How Nigol adapts to the changing industry Why Nigol calls filtering the “holy grail” and how he uses it The state of institutional and scientific learning of investing “The reality is markets lead the economy, not the other way around.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) How research into the markets affects their behavior What opportunities 2018 brings for Nigol and other investors Why Nigol believes CTA’s are still very useful for managed futures Connect with Quest Partners LLC: Visit the Website: http://www.questpartnersllc.com/ Call Quest Partners LLC: +1 (212) 838 7222 E-Mail Quest Partners LLC: InvestorRelations@questpartnersllc.com Follow Nigol Koulajian on LinkedIn   “You cannot have a purely rational mind when you’re trading. You need to realize the cycle of emotions that investors are going through.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)

  “People say, ‘how did you manage to raise so much money by losing so much?’.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) Nigol Koulajian is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quest Partners LLC, and has been designing and trading short-term and long-term technical systems for over 22 years. Coming from Columbia business school, many of Nigol’s general practices seem counter-intuitive but have consistently yielded results. This interview will help get you deeper into the trading and management philosophy that has made Quest Partners such a successful firm. Thank you for listening and please welcome our guest, Nigol Koulajian. Subscribe on: In This Episode, You'll Learn: How Nigol got started with trading systems “There are so many layers of learning. Every time you think you’ve learned something, you realize there are many more layers.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) How Quest Partners grew to where it is today What Nigol has learned from his unique path into managed futures Why clearly defining your process is value added to your product Why Nigol is okay with always being in a state of failure “I’ve chosen to try to live in a way where I feel like I know nothing, and I know that what I know today is going to become irrelevant tomorrow.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) How developing nuance in his intuitive process has become Nigol’s greatest asset What role meditation has played in Nigol’s career What factors played into Quest’s success Why Quest takes tail risk into account while normalizing returns “I think with meditation, I would say anybody can succeed in anything they do because your mind becomes so malleable.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) Why Nigol puts more trust in short-term over the long-term Some of Nigol’s short-term trading strategies What Nigol is studying right now How writing white papers has helped Nigol’s relationships with his clients “In general in the last twenty years, the more long term you’ve been, the less positive convexity you generate.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet) Why focusing on your investors can be hurting your long-term growth How Quest Partners has changed to fit the post-2010 financial climate The problem with smart beta Connect with Quest Partners LLC: Visit the Website: http://www.questpartnersllc.com/ Call Quest Partners LLC: +1 (212) 838 7222 E-Mail Quest Partners LLC: InvestorRelations@questpartnersllc.com Follow Nigol Koulajian on LinkedIn   “I always feel like I’m in a state of failure, I never feel comfortable.” - Nigol Koulajian (Tweet)

My guest today is Nigol Koulajian, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quest Partners LLC. He has been designing and trading short-term and long-term technical systems for over 22 years. The topic is Trend Following. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: Trend following performance in 2014 Volatility vs. skew Why having a good Sharpe Ratio is not the be-all-end-all The notion that alpha in the CTA world is not a result of skill Correlation between tail risk and the Sharpe Ratio Central bank action and the Swiss Franc Why trend following may not be as good in equity market corrections now as it has been in the past Why trend following is not about the super-complicated mathematics Getting outsiders to understand drawdowns Emotional intelligence vs. intellectual intelligence Media bias against trend following Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Michael Covel speaks with Nigol Koulajian on today’s podcast. Koulajian is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Quest Partners LLC. He has been designing and trading short-term and long-term technical systems for over 22 years. Covel starts the episode with some comments on Ray Dalio's recent comments drawing a parallel to 1937. Then Koulajian and Covel talk all things trend following in the CTA space. Covel and Koulajian discuss trend following performance in 2014; volatility vs. skew; why having a good Sharpe Ratio is not the be-all-end-all; the notion that alpha in the CTA world is not a result of skill; correlation between tail risk and the Sharpe Ratio; central bank action and the Swiss Franc; why trend following may not be as good in equity market corrections now as it has been in the past; why trend following is not about the super-complicated mathematics; getting outsiders to understand drawdowns; emotional intelligence vs. intellectual intelligence; media bias against trend following. For more information on Nigol Koulajian, visit questpartnersllc.com. Want a free trend following DVD? Go to trendfollowing.com/win.

In this year-end-review, we discuss the year for CTAs and short term traders, as well as the recent collapse of the Euro/Swiss Franc peg and how that affected the models of Quest Partners. Nigol discusses his goals and thoughts for 2015 and reflects on a 2014 that saw his firm start two new strategies and take in new investment.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You'll Learn:How Quest Partners did in 2014.Why fixed income was the highest contributor to his gains during the year.What models did well in 2014.What the Euro/Swiss Franc collapse can teach us about risk management.How do we prepare for the unthinkable?The details of how his models reacted to the Swiss Franc surge.What the highlights of 2014 were for Nigol.About the two hedge strategies that they started in 2014.How investors should insure they don't repeat 2011 and 2012.How the “Black Box” of CTAs is not as mysterious as it used to be.What focus he is taking in 2015.-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP for Rick Rule's Symposium: Once in a life-time natural resource insights from the BEST investors in the world via a first-class livestream or Live event!Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:Listen to 2 hour-long conversations with Nigol on this podcast here and here.Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.comAnd please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.Follow Nigol Koulajian on

My guests today are Nigol Koulajian and Donald Wieczorek.  Nigol Koulajian's firm is Quest Partners, LLC and is approaching one billion AUM. Koulajian has a very interesting take on trend following–specifically his take on replicating famous trend following strategies. Wieczorek's firm is Purple Valley Capital. The topic is Trend Following. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: Koulajian and Covel discuss Koulajian's background and entrepreneurism within Lebanese culture; how Koulajian got his start, and how he found his way into the systematic strategies he employs today; the influence of Van Tharp; the importance of practices like transcendental meditation and yoga on the mental side of trading and in the context of Koulajian's work today as a fund manager. the S&P 500 as a trading system; crowd psychology; replication strategies; price action as a trigger for different strategies; volatility, volatility compression, and why volatility is not the way to measure risk in the markets anymore; the Flash Crash; and trend following as a hedge to equity risk. Covel and Wieczorek discuss Wieczorek's early track record; Salem Abraham; drawdowns; Wieczorek's first exposure to trend following; why losing early in your trading career can be a good thing; why you don't need to predict market movement to make money; Jack Schwager and the Market Wizards series; and why systematic trading is more than just the technical system. Next, Covel and Wieczorek break apart some of Wieczorek's monthly performance windows (trendfollowing.com/don.pdf), picking apart the psychology and context of certain months in Wieczorek's career. Covel and Wieczorek continue on to talk about correlation between famous trend following traders; volatility and risk; and the value of crisis alpha. Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Michael Covel speaks with Nigol Koulajian and Donald Wieczorek on today’s podcast--two separate interviews back to back. Nigol Koulajian's firm is Quest Partners, LLC and is approaching one billion AUM. Koulajian has a very interesting take on trend following--specifically his take on replicating famous trend following strategies. Koulajian and Covel discuss Koulajian’s background and entrepreneurism within Lebanese culture; how Koulajian got his start, and how he found his way into the systematic strategies he employs today; the influence of Van Tharp; the importance of practices like transcendental meditation and yoga on the mental side of trading and in the context of Koulajian’s work today as a fund manager. the S&P 500 as a trading system; crowd psychology; replication strategies; price action as a trigger for different strategies; volatility, volatility compression, and why volatility is not the way to measure risk in the markets anymore; the Flash Crash; and trend following as a hedge to equity risk. Next, Michael Covel speaks with Donald Wieczorek. Wieczorek’s firm is Purple Valley Capital. Covel and Wieczorek discuss Wieczorek’s early track record; Salem Abraham; drawdowns; Wieczorek’s first exposure to trend following; why losing early in your trading career can be a good thing; why you don’t need to predict market movement to make money; Jack Schwager and the Market Wizards series; and why systematic trading is more than just the technical system. Next, Covel and Wieczorek break apart some of Wieczorek’s monthly performance windows (trendfollowing.com/don.pdf), picking apart the psychology and context of certain months in Wieczorek’s career. Covel and Wieczorek continue on to talk about correlation between famous trend following traders; volatility and risk; and the value of crisis alpha. Want a free trend following DVD? Go to trendfollowing.com/win.

Did you know that a meditation practice can help you be a better investor?In this episode we discuss our common lessons that we ask all Top Traders, but we dive deep into why Nigol thinks differently about CTA issues. Growing up in war-torn Lebanon shifts the filters he uses to see the markets. We all have filters but in this episode you will learn what perspective he takes on the markets that may, or may not, support his market philosophy.Welcome back to the second half of our interview with Nigol Koulajian.-----EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCE: Find Out How to Build a Safer & Better Performing Portfolio using this FREE NEW Portfolio Builder ToolIn This Episode, You'll Learn:How growing up in war torn Lebanon influences the way Nigol filters market decisionsThe challenging nature of a market injected with federal liquidityNigol's strategies for selecting position sizingDrawdown expectations of Quest PartnersHow Quest works to maintain a balance in the working environment and how busy the team staysHow Nigol manages emotional turmoil of drawdowns and how he projects this calmness upon his investorsThe few things that Nigol predicts would shake their strategyHow to listen to clients and use their advice in a way that serves them, even if you don't implement exactly what they're sayingWhy mathematician optimization can adversely effect the strength of your CTA strategyHow Nigol expects to know if a model is working or notThe importance of using math as little as possible despite the systematic approach to tradingA fascinating perspective on why the CTA industry AUM has shifted to EuropeThe most important question investors should be asking: “How to price tail risk.”What it takes to build a firm and become the next QuestLearn all about Nigol's daily meditation practice which he credits as his top personal attribute to becoming a great traderThe most challenging thing about being a CTA for Nigol (A: Fishing in a very small pond)Nigol's biggest failure which occurred in 2009-----ATTENTION TTU TRIBE : SIGN-UP for Rick Rule's Symposium: Once in a life-time natural resource insights from the BEST investors in the world via a first-class livestream or Live event!Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website.IT's TRUE ? – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.Send your questions to

Want to build a computer that makes money?Quest Partners LLC has a long, robust track record with their systematic trading approach.They utilize a different strategies from many of their peers and have diversified their product range to include equity programs both hedge and long only.At the core of it all is their philosophy on focusing on what investors need. They provide solutions for investors rather than a purist strategy.Leading the way is our next guest on Top Traders Unplugged, Nigol Koulajian.In This Episode, You'll Learn:How growing up Armenian provides a filter for the way Nigol perceives the marketsHis experience at Anderson Consulting and how he ended up working with Solomon Brothers by chanceWhy Nigol spend time at Colombia Business School programming and building modelsWhat Nigol thinks of Value at RiskHow Nigol found himself as a risk arbitrage manager despite his passion for CTA strategiesHow Nigol navigated beneficial detours before finally partnering to co-found Enterprise Asset Management in 1994About the founding and growth of Quest Partners from inceptions in 2001 to +760$ million in 2014The dangers of an increased correlation between alternative strategies designed to protect against trouble in traditional investment and the traditional asset classes themselvesLearn about self reinforcing feedback loop and how managers of growing AUM are forced to allocate to factors that are doing well (but perhaps doing well by chance)About the tight, automated business infrastructure of Quest Financial PartnersAbout the shift in volatility expansion and how to measure itResources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:Investors Business Daily – The finance newspaper which inspired Nigol in the early days3 Research Pieces from Quest that specifically examine factor drifts that could effect the returns of CTAsLearn about Sharpe RatioA specific trading model that trades the S&P and 30Y Bonds if it's down 3 days in a row, with a stop-loss and profit target (Full testing and code in the link).BTOP50 – the index that seeks to replicate the overall composition of the managed futures industry with regard to trading style and overall market exposureLearn about David Harding, one of the largest alternative investment managers in the worldRead this interesting article about transcendental meditation and NigolNigol's Foundation to promote studies on eastern religious philosophies and YogaFollow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn,