Top Traders Unplugged
Niels Kaastrup-Larsen
Top Traders Unplugged is where the world’s best investors come to share how they think - not just what they trade.
Hosted by Niels Kaastrup-Larsen, the show goes deep into systematic trend following, global macro, and the principles that drive long-term success.
No forecasts. No fads. Just real conversations with hedge fund managers, economists, authors, and allocators - revealing the timeless ideas, mental models, and risk frameworks behind robust performance.
If you're building resilient portfolios, allocating capital, or simply looking to cut through the noise - this is your edge.
Clear thinking. Deep insights. Real experience.
🎧 New episodes weekly. Explore all episodes at toptradersunplugged.com https://toptradersunplugged.com
Hosted by Niels Kaastrup-Larsen, the show goes deep into systematic trend following, global macro, and the principles that drive long-term success.
No forecasts. No fads. Just real conversations with hedge fund managers, economists, authors, and allocators - revealing the timeless ideas, mental models, and risk frameworks behind robust performance.
If you're building resilient portfolios, allocating capital, or simply looking to cut through the noise - this is your edge.
Clear thinking. Deep insights. Real experience.
🎧 New episodes weekly. Explore all episodes at toptradersunplugged.com https://toptradersunplugged.com
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 13, 2026 • 1h 4min
GM100: Central Banks in the Dark: Inflation, AI, and the Limits of Control ft. David Beckworth
David Beckworth, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and host of Macro Musings, brings sharp macro expertise on U.S. monetary policy. He discusses why central banks struggle with supply shocks and fragile inflation expectations. He explores nominal GDP targeting, AI as a potential supply shock, QE and balance-sheet limits, and the rising tensions between monetary policy, fiscal sustainability, and stablecoins.
39 snips
May 9, 2026 • 1h 12min
SI399: AI, Inflation and the Portfolio That Refuses to Sit Still ft. Alan Dunne
Alan Dunne, a systematic investor and trend-following portfolio manager, talks about AI’s distortion of economic data and the clash between AI-driven productivity and energy-driven inflation. He explores shifting rate expectations, fiscal pressures, and why portfolios need to adapt across regimes. The conversation also unveils a new Regime Adaptive Fund built to adjust exposures as markets and correlations change.
58 snips
May 7, 2026 • 45min
OI22: Inside the Next Generation Market Wizards ft. Jack Schwager & George Coyle
Jack Schwager, veteran author of the Market Wizards series, and George Coyle, researcher who verified traders’ records, join to discuss The Next Generation of Market Wizards. They cover how standout traders are discovered, rigorous performance verification in an AI age, repeated early failures before success, unconventional new tactics, and the psychological and lifestyle costs behind extraordinary trading careers.
14 snips
May 6, 2026 • 1h 6min
GM99: Gold, Trust, and the Return of Real Assets ft. Philip Diehl
Philip Diehl, former Director of the U.S. Mint and current president of U.S. Money Reserve, discusses gold’s comeback amid inflation, central bank buying, and geopolitical stress. He covers Chinese retail demand, why Bitcoin is not digital gold, the tradeoffs between physical coins and ETFs, and why gold may move from the margins into core portfolios.
52 snips
May 2, 2026 • 1h 8min
SI398: Navigating a VUCA World ft. Mark Rzepczynski
Mark Rzepczynski, professor and market strategist specializing in global macro and alternative investments. He frames investing in a VUCA world and why geopolitical supply shocks can create persistent market trends. They talk about why trend-following and managed futures often thrive, the challenges of replicating CTAs with AI, and how narratives, information overload, and policy limits shape market behavior.
12 snips
Apr 29, 2026 • 1h 1min
IL48: The Misunderstood Economics of Africa ft. Joe Studwell
Joe Studwell, author and development economist known for How Asia Works, offers a provocative take on Africa’s growth story. He argues low population density, colonial legacies, and agriculture shaped outcomes. He highlights surprising successes like Rwanda and Botswana, debates resource myths, and explores manufacturing, education, and investor opportunities across the continent.
54 snips
Apr 25, 2026 • 1h 12min
SI397: The Market Isn’t Free Anymore, It’s Being Managed ft. Cem Karsan
Cem Karsan, market strategist known for liquidity and macro analysis, unpacks how politics, geopolitics and liquidity now shape markets. He explores narrative-driven rallies, QIS and systematic flow dynamics. He connects military moves, Strait of Hormuz risks, treasury demand and potential monetization. Short-term orchestration vs long-term structural inflation is a recurring theme.
61 snips
Apr 22, 2026 • 1h 11min
UGO11: Fiscal Dominance, Dollar Power, and the Politics Driving Markets ft. Lyn Alden
Lyn Alden, macro investor known for work on fiscal policy and reserve-currency dynamics. She discusses why fiscal dominance may stick, how debt cycles and populism shape inflation and policy, the shifting global role of the dollar, and crypto’s contested future. Short, sharp takes on politics, globalization, and the incentives that steer markets.
89 snips
Apr 18, 2026 • 1h 21min
SI396: Markets Look Calm… But Are They? ft. Rob Carver
Rob Carver, systematic futures trader and author who runs a trend-following strategy, reflects on a calm-looking market that may be fragile underneath. He discusses oil futures versus physical price dislocations. He explores why slow trend signals have led performance, why he is running lower risk, and practical tradeoffs around ETFs, portfolio construction, and return stacking.
Apr 15, 2026 • 1h 5min
TTU152: Where is the Open? ft. Toby Crabel
Toby Crabel, founder of Crabel Capital Management and pioneer of opening-range breakout trading, reflects on decades of market practice. He discusses how the traditional open has faded, liquidity shifting to closes, why momentum edges eroded, the growing importance of execution, and the realistic limits of AI in trading.
