Subscribe now and watch my free trend following VIDEO.

Tag: live

Ep. 236: Robin Hanson Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Robin Hanson
Robin Hanson

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

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Ep. 234: Ryan Holiday Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday

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

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Ep. 232: Tucker Max Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Tucker Max
Tucker Max

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.

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

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Ep. 229: William Adams Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel

My guest today is William Adams, a private trader and systems developer. He is based in Zurich and works with institutional clients.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • If Adams views himself as a trend following trader
  • Why the word futures can be problematic
  • Broad diversification and diversifying on a number of different tiers
  • Risk-based diversification
  • Why making sure you’re in the game is the most important factor
  • Why every business is seasonal
  • Why price is the most important aspect to a trade
  • How Adams has (or doesn’t have) the “expertise” to trade certain markets
  • Informing your system of various events as a quantitative or systematic trader
  • Thinking about Adams’ strategy in the context of evolution
  • Core baskets vs. satellite baskets
  • The adaptive aspect of what Adams does
  • The philosophical and operational aspects of volatility
  • Average true range as a volatility measure
  • Trading to make a return vs. trading as an economist
  • Adams’ greatest areas of challenge and frustration
  • Michael Lewis and whether the markets are “rigged”
  • Execution strategy

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Ep. 227: Justin Fox Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Justin Fox
Justin Fox

My guest today is Justin Fox, an American financial journalist, commentator, and writer born in Morristown, New Jersey. He is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review Group and business and economics columnist for Time magazine.

The topic is his book The Myth Of The Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • Harry Markowitz, Bayesian statistics, and making smart decisions in an uncertain world using quantitative tools
  • Stocks, beta, and the importance of making useful predictions
  • Commodities Corporation and trend following trading in the early 1970’s
  • Why a market in which everyone was rationally anticipating the future would be a random market
  • Amos Hostetter
  • How the behavioral mindset started to unfold in the 1970’s
  • Eugene Fama and the efficient market hypothesis
  • The Capital Asset Pricing Model
  • Why well-designed markets and well-informed investors are prone to manias and panics
  • Individuals making errors vs. the group getting it right

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Justin Fox

Ep. 225: Thomas Gilovich Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Thomas Gilovich
Thomas Gilovich

My guest today is Thomas Gilovich, an American psychologist who is the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. He has conducted research in social psychology, decision making, behavioral economics, and has written popular books on these subjects.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • How his world dovetailed into money and markets
  • Basketball, streak shooting, and the “hot hand”
  • Randomness and the clustering illusion
  • The missing Malaysian Airlines flight and probability
  • The reluctance to accept a probabilistic view of the world
  • Politics, predictions, and probabilities
  • People who see the world in black and white
  • Drawing conclusions from incomplete and unrepresentative evidence, and how to avoid that folly
  • The position of the devil’s advocate, and the importance of that role
  • Gilovich’s response to the media’s talking heads, and their often black and white opinions
  • Behavioral economics vs. traditional economics
  • When people do the wrong thing because the public demands it
  • Bill James and the closer
  • Instinct vs. considered judgment and test taking
  • Irrationality in financial markets and bubbles
  • Loss aversion
  • Why you don’t need to be better than the market

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!

Ep. 216: Jack Schwager Interview with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Posted on by Michael Covel
Jack Schwager
Jack Schwager

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

Listen to this episode:

Jump in!