Tom Basso

Tom Basso founded Trendstat in the late 1970s, building it into one of the premier systematic commodity trading advisors in the United States. Trendstat's approach was diversified trend-following across more than 60 global futures markets, including commodities, currencies, bonds, and equity indices, using purely systematic rules with no discretionary override. At peak, the firm managed approximately $600 million in assets. Basso is philosophically unusual among successful traders in emphasising serenity and psychological equanimity as core to trading success — he was nicknamed "Mr. Serenity" by Jack Schwager in "The New Market Wizards" (1992). His view is that excessive emotional attachment to individual trades is the primary cause of poor trading decisions, and that a systematically applied diversified portfolio approach is the most reliable path to long-term returns. Basso retired from institutional fund management at age 42 — a decision he framed as having achieved financial independence and desiring more flexibility — and subsequently published books and courses on systematic trading for retail and smaller institutional audiences. His work on risk management, particularly the relationship between position sizing and portfolio volatility, has influenced numerous CTAs and systematic traders. He is regarded as one of the most thoughtful philosophers of systematic trend following.