Robert Carver

Wednesday, 4 November 2026  •  7:30 PM AEDT (Sydney / Melbourne)  •  90 Minutes  •  Online

Registration is FREE for both ATAA members and non-members. Sign up now to receive the Zoom link — and a recording of the presentation after the event.

Most traders don’t fail because they lack a clever idea. They fail for three reasons: they use too much leverage, they trade too often, and they fool themselves with their own backtests.

Trading itself might be an art — but avoiding these three pitfalls is definitely a science. In this 90-minute session, former AHL hedge fund manager and best-selling author Robert Carver introduces theoretically grounded but genuinely practical methods for avoiding all three errors.

Rob built AHL’s fundamental global macro strategy and went on to manage the fund’s multi-billion-dollar fixed income portfolio before leaving in 2013 to trade his own capital. He has since written five books on systematic trading and portfolio construction, and teaches systematic trading strategies at Queen Mary, University of London. Few people are better placed to explain where the real risks sit — and what to do about them.

Why You Can’t Miss This Event

This is not a presentation about a secret indicator or a new entry signal. It’s about the three decisions that actually determine whether a trading account survives: how big, how often, and how much do you really believe your own research.

Rob is unusually good at taking institutional-grade thinking — risk targeting, cost-aware turnover, out-of-sample discipline — and translating it into rules a self-directed trader with a retail brokerage account can actually apply on Monday morning. Whether you trade mechanically or discretionarily, the “guard rails” he describes apply to you.

What You’ll Learn

• Pitfall #1 — Over-leveraging: why most traders unknowingly run far more risk than they intend, and how to size positions against a deliberate risk target rather than a gut feel.
• Pitfall #2 — Trading too often: how trading costs quietly consume returns, and a practical framework for deciding whether a strategy’s turnover is actually justified by its edge.
• Pitfall #3 — Over-fitting: why backtests flatter us, how to recognise when you’ve fitted noise instead of signal, and the research habits that keep you honest.
• The science behind the art: the theory underpinning each solution — explained without requiring a quant background.
• Live Q&A with Rob — bring your questions on leverage, position sizing, costs, backtesting and system design.

Event Details

Date	Wednesday, 4 November 2026
Time	7:30 PM AEDT (Sydney / Melbourne)
Duration	90 minutes, including audience Q&A
Location	Online webinar (Zoom) — join from the comfort of your own home
Speaker	Robert Carver — independent systematic futures trader, author and research consultant
Cost	Free for ATAA members and non-members
Recording	All registrants receive a link to the recording after the event

Start Time In Your City

City	Local Start Time (Wed 4 Nov 2026)
Sydney / Melbourne / Canberra / Hobart	7:30 PM
Brisbane	6:30 PM
Adelaide	7:00 PM
Darwin	6:00 PM
Perth	4:30 PM
Auckland	9:30 PM
Singapore / Hong Kong	4:30 PM
London	8:30 AM

Check the time and date in your location ›

About the Speaker

Robert Carver is an independent systematic futures trader, writer and research consultant. He is a visiting lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and a research advisor to Stylus Digital, a hedge fund trading digital assets. He is also retained by several other asset managers and trading firms on an undisclosed basis.

Until 2013 Robert worked for AHL, the large systematic hedge fund that forms part of the Man Group. He was responsible for the creation of AHL’s fundamental global macro strategy, and then managed the fund’s multi-billion-dollar fixed income portfolio. Prior to that he was a research manager at CEPR, an economics think tank, and traded exotic derivatives for Barclays investment bank. He spent his early career in the Middle East.

Robert holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Manchester and a Masters degree, also in Economics, from Birkbeck College, University of London.

Who Should Attend

• Systematic and algorithmic traders who want a rigorous framework for leverage, turnover and research discipline.
• Discretionary traders looking to put science-based guard rails around a judgement-driven process — position sizing and risk management don’t care how you generate signals.
• Futures, FX, CFD and margin traders for whom leverage is a daily decision rather than an abstraction.
• Anyone who has ever been burned by a great backtest that failed in live trading.
• Developers, quants and serious self-directed investors who prefer theory they can actually implement.

Registration

This webinar is complimentary (no charge) for both ATAA members and non-members.

Reserve your spot by registering below. You’ll receive a confirmation email with the Zoom joining details, and a link to the recording after the event.

© 2026 Australian Technical Analysts Association (ATAA)