The price of Copper has been trending significantly higher since the start of 2016. However, this trend has not been easy to trade using traditional trend following strategies.

This last event (D) was quite painful for most – if not all – trend followers, as the following chart illustrates: 

I had formulated the above strategy more than 11 years ago, in April 2007. This fairly typical trend following strategy failed to profit sufficiently from the trend moves after 2016 to offset the losses it incurred during periods of range-bound price action. The June/July 2018 event (D), caused severe losses for this strategy.

The I-System difference

I’ve been able to trade Copper much more successfully thanks to the I-System technology which makes it possible for trading strategies to adapt to changing market environments:

The above ten intelligent trading strategies were far more effective at capitalizing on the trend moves in Copper price while limiting the losses from trendless periods and sharp price corrections. The uncertainty of price fluctuations makes it inevitable that some strategies will perform very well and some will lag. Again, thanks to the I-System a multitude of strategies can be implemented, making it much more likely that their performance – on average – will be satisfactory.

The above set turned their initial $35,000 risk budget into $38,315 (at the closing price of $2.83/lb on 5^th July 2018). Given the challenging trajectory of Copper price fluctuations, this has been a remarkable result, providing yet another testimony about the quality and robustness of the I-System technology.