Better System Trader Podcast is founded by Andrew Swanscott, a systematic trader in Melbourne, Australia. He interviews traders from different backgrounds and approaches to markets. I have recently finished listening to all of the 164 episodes.
In August last year, I started to notice my trading style had been evolving from discretionary into more systematic. Basically, discretionary trading is decision-based and systematic trading is rule-based. But there can be a bit overlapping. I see myself somewhere in the middle, where part of my general market analysis is discretionary but specific trading strategies work by systems.
Obviously there are pros and cons to both; like systems have less gut feeling and emotions in it, but need to be adjusted or turned off when changes in the market environment occur. Discretionary needs common sense but should be more stable over a long period of time.
Anyway, back to the podcast. It took me about 3 months to finish all episodes as I am used to listening to 1-2 episodes a day. Usually one during breakfast and another at some physical activity during the day. Some more known names to me interviewed by Andrew are: Kevin Davey, Perry Kaufman, Jerry Parker, Larry Williams, Brett Steenbarger, Michael Cook, Linda Raschke, Adam Grimes, Nick Radge, Jack Schwager, John Carter, Larry Connors. Though the podcast gravitates towards systematic trading, there are actually traders of all styles featured. I can’t really sum up the topics as each interview is different, only with some similar starting questions like background and beginning of trading; also some similar finishing questions like best trading advice and book recommendations. Everything in-between of it is original and unique depending on the interviewee.
I have greatly enjoyed Andrew’s work. Unfortunately, the last episode is from June 2019 and he hasn’t been adding new content to the podcast anymore; you can still listen to all of the previous ones. I am currently listening to a third podcast on trading and will soon write about it, after I’ve finished a book by the same person and reviewed it here. 😉 Stay tuned!
Edit (October 2020): Andrew has moved to a video format on YouTube and new shows are coming up weekly!
Is Better System Trader still running? (2026 update)
I checked the podcast’s own feed on 29 September 2026. It lists 242 items, from the opening episode, “Welcome to Better System Trader”, on 11 April 2015 to episode 241, “Trading Market Phases” with Mish Schneider, on 9 August 2024. Nothing newer has come out since then. The show did come back after the 2019 break I mention above: the first new episode was 165 with Cesar Alvarez in September 2020, and 2024 alone had 23 releases. The whole archive is still up on Apple Podcasts and bettersystemtrader.com, so the old episodes are as useful as they were.
Episodes with authors I’ve reviewed
A good way into a back catalogue this size is to start with guests whose books you know. These are the ones I’ve reviewed here, with the episode numbers from the feed (episodes with the guest’s name in the title):
- Kevin Davey, episodes 5, 38, 162, 170, 187, 213–215: Building Winning Algorithmic Trading Systems
- Robert Carver, episodes 26, 70, 180: Systematic Trading
- Brent Penfold, episodes 2, 101, 173, 212: The Universal Principles of Successful Trading
- Nick Radge, episodes 4, 92, 166: Unholy Grails
- Adam Grimes, episodes 55, 106, 188: The Art and Science of Technical Analysis
- Howard Bandy, episodes 6, 61: Quantitative Trading Systems
- Thomas Stridsman, episode 33: Trading Systems That Work
- Andreas Clenow, episode 13: Following the Trend and Stocks on the Move
- Jack Schwager, episodes 97, 100: Market Wizards
- Tom Basso, episode 236: Successful Traders Size Their Positions
- John Carter, episode 136: Mastering the Trade
- Larry Connors, episode 151: How Markets Really Work
If I had to pick one place to start, it would be episode 17 with Jerry Parker, one of the original Turtles, on trend following, and then Davey’s episodes on building and testing systems. Listening to someone explain their rules and then reading the book is a much better way to learn than either one alone.
