Richard Brennan

When the Trends Turned October was a reminder that trend following gives back through the same mechanism by which it gains. The ATS Classic Trend Benchmarking Portfolio fell 6.95% as reversals spread across bonds, metals, grains, equities and currencies. Energy resisted the turn, contributing +5.62%, but all seven system families finished lower. The full report examines where the losses came from, how the portfolio responded, and what the interactive trade playback reveals about positions that remained open through the reversal. Read the October report: atstradingsolutions.com/ats-… #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading #ManagedFutures #PortfolioManagement

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 8: Process Is the Only Refuge I follow my rules and lose. I ignore them on the next trade and make money. Which lesson should I take into the trade after that? Markets can reward a poor decision and punish a sound one. This episode explores how to learn from results without letting the latest win or loss rewrite the method. Read Episode 8: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

THIS WEEK IN TREND | 30 OCTOBER 2026 Fewer Markets Rose. Trend Strength Weakened. Yet Trend-Following Returns Improved. Only 14 of 49 futures markets finished higher, and the TTU Trend Barometer slipped to 39%. Yet the SG Trend Index recovered to +14.92% year to date. Precious metals and Lean Hogs extended their declines, while several established advances continued to unravel. The lesson? A difficult market environment does not necessarily mean an unprofitable one for trend followers. Direction alone tells us little. Persistence tells us where the opportunity lies. Read the full report: atstradingsolutions.com/this… #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading #GlobalMacro #OutlierHunting

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 7: What the Quant Approach Cannot See Different funds. Different stocks. Separate risk reports. Then, in August 2007, apparently independent portfolios began losing together. What connected them? In this episode, I explore how shared funding pressures and crowded exits can expose relationships that historical estimates miss. A model records the market’s past. Its users help make what happens next. Read Episode 7: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

Beyond the Benchmarks Five trend followers. One annual decision. A simulated $100 growing to $2,347 from January 2000 to August 2026. How much of trend following’s opportunity do the familiar benchmarks capture? Our first Allocation Spotlight explores F22’s striking historical record and what investors can actually access through ETFs. Read the report: atstradingsolutions.com/allo… #TrendFollowing #SystematicInvesting #PortfolioAllocation #ManagedFutures

The Returns Catch Up September’s strongest week for trend following came when most markets fell. Persistence paid. All three major trend benchmarks gained for a second consecutive month and moved ahead of the S&P 500 for the year. The September report explores where the trends held, where they faltered, and why counting rising markets can miss the story. Read the report: atstradingsolutions.com/tren… #TrendFollowing #ManagedFutures #SystematicTrading #Diversification

The Allocation Ledger | August 2026 August’s leading allocation method gained 9.54%. Yet the leaders for long-term growth and growth relative to drawdown were different again. One strong month catches the eye. The longer record tells a richer story. Explore the rankings, underlying holdings and interactive charts: atstradingsolutions.com/the-… #TrendFollowing #PortfolioAllocation #ManagedFutures #TheAllocationLedger

Falling Markets. Rising Opportunity. September’s strongest week for the SG Trend Index came when only 14 of 49 tracked markets rose. For trend followers, direction cuts both ways. Across 97 reporting programs, September delivered an average gain of 3.21%, with Lynx 1.5x leading at 13.90%. But the monthly winners tell only part of the story. Who leads over five years? What drawdowns came with those returns? And how much do the leaders have in common? Explore September’s Rising Stars and Trend Titans report for the rankings, dispersion and longer-term perspective. View the report: atstradingsolutions.com/risi… #TrendFollowing #ManagedFutures #SystematicTrading #PortfolioDiversification

You do not need to predict the future. You just need to be in position when it arrives. Our forthcoming book, The Trend Following Manifesto, explores how to prepare for a world that refuses to follow a forecast. Join the launch list for updates and details of the first-week discount: leadpages.toptradersunplugge… #TrendFollowing #TheTrendFollowingManifesto #SystematicTrading #BookLaunch

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 6: The Practitioner’s Discipline A Gubbi Gubbi elder pointed to a flowering tree and told me where the fish would be downstream. I looked from the blossom to the water and could see no connection. His explanation changed what I could see without changing anything in front of me. This episode begins beside that stream and returns to my trading desk, where the encounter left me with a question: what am I missing when I record the separate things but overlook their relationships? Read Episode 6: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

This Week in Trend | 23 October 2026 Trend Strength Recovered. Returns Told a Different Story. The TTU Trend Barometer recovered from 36% to 41%, but the SG Trend Index slipped further to +14.31% year to date. Crude oil advanced while Natural Gas collapsed. Precious metals continued to weaken. Beneath the weekly movements, the trend environment showed tentative signs of improvement. But improving trend strength does not necessarily mean improving portfolio returns. The trends available and the trends a portfolio captures are not always the same. Read this week's full analysis: atstradingsolutions.com/this… #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading #GlobalMacro #TTUTrendBarometer

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 5: What the Eye Cannot See, the Pattern Reveals The signal is still valid, yet the market feels different. Pullbacks deepen. Related markets drift apart. Is something changing, or will it only look obvious afterward? In this episode, I explore what an experienced eye can notice, how hindsight can fool it, and how to give judgment a useful place within a systematic trading process. Read Episode 5: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 4: The Same Pattern at Every Scale A river branches. So do lungs, leaves and city networks. The resemblance catches the eye. What can it teach us? In this episode, I explore how patterns in other fields can help us notice overlooked connections in markets, including the shared funding that can turn several small positions into one large exposure. The comparison gives us a question. We still have to investigate the cause. Read Episode 4: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

THIS WEEK IN TREND | 9 OCTOBER 2026 More Markets Rose. Fewer Trends Persisted. Twenty-eight of 49 futures markets finished higher, twice the previous weeks number. Yet the TTU Trend Barometer slipped to 50%, while the SG Trend Index climbed to +16.14% year to date. A reminder that rising prices and persistent trends are not necessarily the same thing. For trend followers, the opportunity lies in persistence, not predicting direction. Read the full report: atstradingsolutions.com/this… #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading #GlobalMacro #OutlierHunting

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 3: What Survives Is What Could Not Be Eliminated A canyon shows the river’s surviving course. A winning chart shows the trend that lasted. Neither puts the abandoned beginnings in front of us. In this episode, I explore how constraints and history shape what remains, and why a trend follower’s chance of holding an exceptional move depends on surviving the attempts that came before it. Read Episode 3: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 2: The Future Is Not Hidden, It Is Unwritten A forecast says the bar will be quiet. Everyone reads it and turns up. The prediction has changed the evening it was meant to describe. Markets have the same complication: people can act on what they expect. In this episode, I explore what that means for a trader who must commit capital while the next outcome is still taking shape. Read Episode 2: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading

Hidden in Plain Sight | Episode 1: What Bohm Saw Every position looks small. Then several markets move against the account together. The report was accurate. The danger lay in what connected its rows. In the first episode of my new series, I explore what a flock of birds and David Bohm’s ideas can help a trader notice: the relationships are part of the system, and sometimes they become its most consequential feature. Read Episode 1: atstradingsolutions.com/hidd… #HiddenInPlainSight #ComplexAdaptiveSystems #TrendFollowing #SystematicTrading