Michael Covel's Trend Following

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 240: Nir Eyal Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 20, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Nir Eyal, an educator, author, and entrepreneur who is all about connecting psychology, technology, and business.

The topic is his book Hooked: How To Build Habit Forming Products.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

How behavior and habits can be engineered, and how technology changes our behavior
The moral implications of habit forming activities
The difference between habits and addictions
Breaking "the hook"
The four areas that "the hook" goes through: trigger, action, variable reward, and investment
The IKEA example and how value can be built
Eyal's mentors and influences
The importance of social feedback from your community
The WhatsApp deal, and how to deal with your "insane jealousy" of the messaging app deal
Getting equal pay for equal work, and how that might be embedded in our DNA
The importance of interface changes when it comes to revolutionary changes in technology

Jump in!

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I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show.

To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/

You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 239: Brett Steenbarger Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 17, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Brett Steenbarger, a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

What a "flow state" is, and why it's important
How Steenbarger has seen flow connect to the trading world, and the importance of matching your level of difficulty and challenge
Risk and risk tolerance
The logical and psychological sides to risk
"What have you done for me lately" attitude for investors
Why we don't grow if we stay within our comfort zones
Process vs. outcome
The psychological burden of certain fee structures
Some of the common characteristics of successful traders
Slow thinking, deep thinking, and fast thinking
Where we're headed regarding prescription drugs related to the mind
Trend trading vs. mean reversion
Contextualism
Trend following vs. momentum trading
How people actually behave vs. how they describe their behavior

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 238: Larry Hite & Alex Greyserman Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 12, 2014

Show notes

My guests today are Larry Hite and Alex Greyserman.

Hite is a hedge fund manager and is one of the forefathers of system trading. He was famously featured in the Market Wizards book. A few years ago he started ISAM with Stanley Fink. Greyserman has 25 years of experience in the CTA industry, and was originally hired by Larry Hite at Mint.

Greyserman is Chief Scientist at ISAM (PhD in Statistics). He is also a professor at Columbia University.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Singapore, and Covel's recent excursions in Asia
How the game has stayed the same despite zero interest rate policy
What people are missing when they say "trend following is dead"
How you'll never get perfection
Their 800 year study, the premise, and what was found out
Measuring human nature
The difference between divergent and convergent strategies
Risk management
Having "perfect" knowledge
Using long trends and getting whipsawed in shorter trends
The asset class of trend following compared to the NASDAQ buy and hold, etc.
What's changed about human nature through all the booms and busts
Insurance, hedging your risk, and the risk transference process
Asymmetrical leverage
Adjusting to new environments
How those that survive are the most adaptable to the environment
How trend following automatically adjusts to what's happening

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 237: Sharon Moalem Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 11, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Sharon Moalem, a physician and author. Moalem's previous book, "Survival Of The Sickest", was a New York Times bestseller.

The topic is his book Inheritance: How Our Genes Change Our Lives, and Our Lives Change Our Genes.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Rafael Nadal as an example of digging deep in genetics
How our bodies are constantly in a state of deconstruction and reconstruction
How DNA is under constant modification
Genetic personalized medicine
"Jeff the chef" and an example of specific dietary needs
Dysmorphology and analyzing the hands, feet, and face of an individual
Gregor Mendel and his pea experiments in genetics
How your behavior can dictate your genetic destiny
The future of personalized genetic medicine
Critics and misunderstandings of genetics
Vitamins on an individual basis

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 236: Robin Hanson Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 08, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Robin Hanson, an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University.

The topic is outside the box economic perspectives.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Prediction markets
Vernon Smith and coming up with the "why" for booms and busts
Dealing with a complex world based on our limited abilities
Steering towards humanity's future
Hanson's physics background, and how he came to where prediction markets became a passion
How prediction markets can make us pay more attention to the truth
Hayek and Mises, and some of their thinking early on
What taboos and idealogical beliefs might stop one from making optimal decisions
If people have employed particular trading strategies to the prediction markets
Stop losses as information and as risk preference
Setting up a market to bet on geopolitical events in the Middle East, and the controversy based around that
Why DC politicians often cannot handle the research Hanson does
Why Hanson has elected to have his head cryonically preserved after medical death based on a cost-benefit analysis

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 235: Harry Markowitz Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 06, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Harry Markowitz, the third Nobel Prize winner to appear on this podcast. Markowitz is an American economist who received the 1989 John von Neumann Theory Prize and the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Markowitz is a professor of finance at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

The topic is modern finance.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Justin Fox and "The Myth Of The Rational Market"
Markowitz's beginnings, and the Nobel Prize
Markowitz's 1952 paper
How Markowitz felt about some of his prescriptions and ideas being interpreted into dogma
Why Wall Street was not interested in Markowitz's theories at one time
Diversification for the right reason
Markowitz's new four-volume book
Advice on maintaining mental acuity at an advanced age and sounding like you're 35 when you're 86 years young
Markowitz's attraction to the philosopher Hume
If it was fifty years later, if Markowitz would be a quant running a hedge fund today
Markowitz's legacy
On being comfortable vs. being rich
The leveraged long-only hedge fund industry and being coaxed into putting your money into these institutions
Long Term Capital Management and portfolio theory

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 234: Ryan Holiday Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio May 01, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Ryan Holiday, director of marketing for American Apparel; media strategist for Tucker Max, Dov Charney, and others.

The topic is his book The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Marcus Aurelius' philosophy and stoicism, and why it has such a hold on Holiday
Distraction
Why the impediment to action actually advances action
The unpredictability of the world, and how we react to the world
George Clooney, and his start as an actor related to the obstacles we all face
Steve Jobs' reality distortion field
What drives Holiday today
How will is the ultimate trump card
The two definitions of will
Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban and his approach to the moment of now
Feeling great about the fight, the adversity, and the challenge
How the process is intrinsically valuable

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 233: Larry Doyle Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Apr 28, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Larry Doyle, a former JP Morgan banker. Larry embarked on his Wall Street career in 1983 as a mortgage-backed securities trader for The First Boston Corporation, and was involved in the growth and development of the secondary mortgage market from its near infancy.

The topic is his book In Bed with Wall Street: How Bankers, Regulators and Politicians Conspire to Cripple Our Global Economy.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Doyle's background and why he put "In Bed With Wall Street" together
Madoff, and what was missed from a regulatory perspective
KYC, or "knowing your customer"
MF Global, Jon Corzine, and touching customer funds
Dodd Frank and the supposed fixes to the 2008 financial crisis, and why Dodd Frank was more of an architectual blueprint rather than a completed piece of legislation
Regulatory reforms to help fix the problems created in the 2008 financial crisis
Informing the general public of the problems surrounding Wall Street today
The "bribe" of equity markets at all-time highs; manipulation of the markets
Why Tim Geithner said "we saved the economy, but we lost the country"
If a crash is the only thing that will bring about change
Why the banks must be broken up
What would have happened if Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had failed

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 232: Tucker Max Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Apr 25, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Tucker Max, an American author and public speaker. He chronicles his drinking and sexual encounters in the form of short stories on his website TuckerMax.com, which has received millions of visitors since Max launched it as the result of a bet in 2000.

The topic is success.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Covel and Max talk about their first meeting, and Max's brutally honest advice to Covel
Diet and nutrition
The NCAA, college athletics, exploitation, the media, and having to 'beat' the system
Marginal cost and marginal product
Entrepreneurial thinking and Max's early career
Max's experience in marketing
Protecting your independence
Christopher Hitchens
Facing rejection in publishing, and how rejection is part of success
How success only teaches you to repeat what you did before, and failure forces you to think
What drives Max today
How the landscape has changed in regards to authors
The fight for authority and trust in the publishing world
What motivates Tucker Max today--the quality of relationships you have with other people, and what you do that matters to others

Jump in!

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Ep. 231: Two Centuries of Trend Following with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Apr 21, 2014

Show notes

Please enjoy my monologue Two Centuries of Trend Following with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio. This episode may also include great outside guests from my archive.

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You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!