Michael Marcus and Ed Seykota: Trend-Following and Emotional Discipline
Two of the book's most-cited trend-following traders — and the specific emotional discipline each attributes their success to.
Michael Marcus, an early, formative trend-following trader in the book, describes turning a small account into enormous gains over years, attributing much of his success to a mentor's early guidance that trading required combining a specific method with genuine emotional control — and to learning, through real losses, when his own emotional state (overconfidence after wins, fear after losses) was distorting his decisions.
Ed Seykota, another of the book's most-cited trend-following interviews, is known for a distinctively blunt, almost philosophical framing of trading psychology — his interview repeatedly returns to the idea that a trader's own psychological patterns, more than any specific technical method, determine long-run results, and that the market has a way of giving traders exactly the outcome their own psychology is unconsciously seeking.
| Trader | Core emphasis |
|---|---|
| Michael Marcus | Combining a trend-following method with active management of his own emotional overconfidence and fear |
| Ed Seykota | The trader's underlying psychology, more than technical method, ultimately drives long-run trading outcomes |
Trend-following as a method requires tolerating extended periods where a position moves against the trader before (if the trend genuinely holds) eventually working out, and requires exiting winning trends before certainty that the trend has actually ended — both of which create specific, recurring emotional pressure (doubt during drawdowns, reluctance to exit strength) that these two traders' interviews focus on directly, making trend-following a particularly clear lens for the book's broader psychological themes.
- Michael Marcus attributes his success to combining trend-following method with active management of his own emotional overconfidence and fear, learned through real early losses.
- Ed Seykota's interview centers on a stronger claim: that a trader's underlying psychology, more than technical method, ultimately determines their long-run results.
- Trend-following's specific demands — tolerating extended adverse moves, exiting strength before certainty — make these two interviews a particularly clear lens on the book's broader psychological themes.