Michael Covel: News & Info.

A nice overview.

A short course in thinking about thinking on Edge.org is worth reading. This might not help with your buys and sells, but it sure adds perspective to the “mind” part of the game.

The New York Times weighs in.

From the wires:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 “baby bond” from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

Not sure what to make of this. Will there be a market I can speculate in? Perhaps a baby bond futures contract?

From a reader:

Mr. Covel: I certainly agree with your comments that everyone should be able to participate in hedge funds; after all why should the hedge fund managers, companies, the well-to-do be the only ones to have the opportunity to lose their royal ass. Democracy means equal access to losses. I was looking at the last two issues of Barrons at the listing of the hedge fund returns over the last year, five years, etc etc; abysmal! A few exceptions. I don’t understand why the funds that see their drawdowns terrifically high don’t just use some discretion and get out. I realize this would be counter to the systematic approach that these funds espouse, but it would seem like it might make sense to sacrifice principle for policy; even Hitler was smart enough to pull back from Leningrad after Germany had lost over 250,000 personnel.

I spoke with David Kass of the CFTC yesterday in Dallas. David is the Senior Economist in the Division of Market Oversight. I wanted to know if/when we would see the minimums come down so the average guy could participate in hedge funds and commodity trading advisers. His answer somewhat surprised me. While he was not offering too much, he did note that the minimums have come down dramatically in the last few years. It was refreshing to hear him say that. Everyone should have the ability to participate in hedge funds just like they can in mutual funds. There is no truly legitimate reason to keep people out.

Howard Lindzon is definitely a blackberry guy. He is also the creator of Wallstrip and runs a fund of funds. In his best blackberry brevity he offered positive feedback on “The Complete TurtleTrader“:

“Loved it as did my wife. Congrats.”

I am speaking here in Dallas at the Ritz Carlton on Tuesday. Look at all of those pension funds representing firemen and teachers! Who said hedge funds are not for the little guy?

I interviewed 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics winner Dr. Vernon Smith on camera today. My big question: where were the professors like Dr. Smith when I was in school?! What did we talk about? Markets, the history of markets, exchange, investor behavior and a whole host of subjects. A prior CNBC interview with Dr. Smith.

In the last few days I conducted on-camera interviews with both Larry Hite and Eric Bolling. Very different in their trading, but philosophically, they both beat home the big point: cut your losses and you have a chance. That reminder never gets old.