Michael Covel's Trend Following

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 220: Victor Sperandeo Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Mar 17, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Victor Sperandeo, known as "Trader Vic", a US trader, index developer, and financial commentator. He serves as the President and CEO of Alpha Financial Technologies, LLC (AFT), is a founding partner of EAM Partners L.P., and serves as the President and CEO of its general partner, EAM Corporation.

The topic is trading.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Recent public policy directions
Trading against your public policy interests
Zero interest rate policy
Whether the S&P is a "bribe"
The Fed mandate to keep stocks from falling and to stop volatility
The wealth effect
Why the stock market going up is a very poor instrument to fix the economy
The trend towards socialism
Sperandeo's experience working with George Soros
Sperandeo's experience with the DTI index
lack swans and the effects of large, catastrophic events on the market; why the only way to protect yourself is extreme diversification; volatility balancing; and Sperandeo's experience as a young man and how he came into the trading world

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. 219: Carl Richards Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Mar 13, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Carl Richards, a Certified Financial Planner and creator of the Sketch Guy column, appearing weekly in The New York Times since 2010. Carl has also been featured on Marketplace Money, Oprah.com, and Forbes.com.

The topic is finance.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Richards' new radio venture
How Richards came to start The Behavior Gap
Outliers, and living your own bell curve
Risk on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis
The definition of radical self-awareness
Mindfulness and awareness as applied to our financial decisions
Habit, action, feeling, and thought
Simplicity and effectiveness
Government intervention in the markets
Quantitative easing
Buy and hold in Japan
Loss aversion and the pain of loss
Feeling loss more than the joy of gain

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. 218: Sam Polk Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Mar 13, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Sam Polk, a former wall street banker who walked away after making millions. Today, Polk runs a non-profit to help the poor understand nutrition. However, his op-ed is definitely controversial.

The topic is his op-ed For The Love of Money.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

The intensity surrounding the reaction to Polk's op-ed piece
Reactions from friends and colleagues about the article
Envy and jealousy in the Wall Street world
Polk's background and life growing up
Filtering cultural messages
The line between individual responsibility and being part of a system
Crony capitalism
Power dynamics
The mythology of risk-taking in America
The solution for the investment banks out there
Polk's non-profit which he runs today

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. 217: Risk, Reward and The Process with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Mar 07, 2014

Show notes

Please enjoy my monologue Risk, Reward and The Process 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!

Ep. 216: Jack Schwager Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Mar 04, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Jack Schwager, a recognized industry expert in futures and hedge funds and the author of a number of widely acclaimed financial books. Schwager is one of the founders of Fund Seeder. Previously, he was a partner in the Fortune Group, a London-based hedge fund advisory firm. His prior experience also includes 22 years as Director of Futures research for some of Wall Street's leading firms, most recently Prudential Securities.

The topic is his book The Little Book of Market Wizards.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

How Fund Seeder acts as a liason for traders and investors
The difficulty of starting out as a new trader
How Fund Seeder is a global opportunity
Schwager's last book, Hedge Fund Market Wizards
The timeless quality of the Market Wizards books
Jesse Livermore's Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
How human nature is the only thing that will never change
Looking for a "secret recipe" in the Market Wizards book
"The Upside of Down: Why Failing Well Is The Key To Success" by Megan McArdle
Why failure is smart and an essential part of success
The importance of failure in the context of education
Behavioral economics
Jack Horner and thinking outside of the box
The importance of loving what you do for a living
The importance of travel

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. 215: Al Abaroa Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Feb 26, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Al Abaroa, the Chief Investment Strategist at Kingsview and has been a registered broker and trader since 1993. He has seen all aspects of the investing industry.

The topic is a white paper that Abaroa wrote about trend following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

How people forget that anything can and will happen
Why we're seeing optimistic behavior in the market
The similarities between the WhatsApp/Facebook acquisition and the AOL/Time Warner acquisition
Abaroa's wealth formula
"Reasonable returns"
Long term vs. short term outlooks
The advantages of youth in trading
Lifespan growth, and retirement
Tom Basso and black swan events
Looking back on major crashes
Development and distribution as the two modalities of price
Focusing on price action
The Global Volatility Index
Looking at black swan periods as a place to profit
The asymmetrical return stream and the asymmetrical nature of trend following
Why trend following produces returns a minority of the time
Position sizing
Fixed contract allocation vs. fixed fractional contract allocation and their role in position sizing
Trend following investors and market timing
Seeking immediate gratification in trend following investments
Looking at trend following track records

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. 214: Trend Following Winners, Daniel Kahneman, and Tina Turner with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Feb 26, 2014

Show notes

Please enjoy my monologue Trend Following Winners, Daniel Kahneman, and Tina Turner 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!

Ep. 213: Jonathan Hoenig Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Feb 20, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Jonathan Hoenig, an American, founding member of the Capitalist Pig hedge fund, and a regular contributor to and regular panelist on Fox News Channel's Cashin' In, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld and WLS 890's morning show, Don Wade & Roma.

The topic is his documentary Pit Trading 101.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Hoenig's branding for his hedge fund, Capitalist Pig
Why capitalism has become demonized
The difference between capitalism and crony capitalism
Ayn Rand and capitalism as the "unknown ideal"
How Hoenig ended up in the Chicago trading pits, and what we can learn from studying pit trading today
The physical type of pit traders
The subculture of the pits
Where Hoenig sees futures markets going
The blame of speculators
America's place in the world today

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. 212: Daniel Kahneman Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Feb 16, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is Daniel Kahneman, the second Nobel Prize winner to appear on this podcast. Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

The topic is behavioral psychology.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Kahneman's beginnings, and how he came to realize he was looking at the world from a different vantage point than most
How Kahneman's work is foundational to trading
Questioning the dogma of rationality
Happiness, and the distinction between the remembering self and the experiencing self
The consumption of memories
The danger of not making peace with a loss
Bubbles and crowd behavior
Happiness research and public policy
Emotion, possibility, and probability
Hope and fear
Why optimism is the engine of capitalism
The influence of prospect 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. 211: John Bollinger Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio Feb 13, 2014

Show notes

My guest today is John Bollinger, an American author, financial analyst, contributor to the field of technical analysis and the developer of Bollinger Bands. Since 1987, he has published the Capital Growth Letter, a newsletter which provides technical analysis of the financial markets.

The topic is Trend Following.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

Bollinger Bands as described for the lay person
Defining when a price is relatively high or relatively low
Defining "relatively high" and "relatively low"
Measuring volatility to determine the "width" of a Bollinger Band
Standard deviation
The beginnings of Bollinger Bands, and how John Bollinger came to put it together
Different ideas about volatility in the 1980s
Some of Bollinger's early curiosity triggers, and why he started digging into finance after going to art school
Light, film, and Bollinger's experience at the School of Visual Arts
Bollinger's experience in his apprenticeship to learn technical analysis
"The best authority is the price itself", and why this statement isn't very well accepted in the mainstream
Differences between fundamental and technical analysts
Bollinger's look at media and the presentation of his message over the years
Why Bollinger would be known as a quantitative analyst instead of a technician if he started his career now
Position sizing
Why volatility is the least understood aspect of the market