Michael Covel: News & Info.

While in Tokyo I interviewed Lucy Craft of CBS News for my film. She had a great line while describing the financial gurus of today always so filled with promises. She called them ‘financial vaudeville‘. Good to know there are some members of the press out there seeing through the mess!

I am moderating a panel on Thursday in Paris at TradeTech. The panel includes Salem Abraham and Peter Borish.

I am moderating a Managed Funds Association panel at The Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne, FL (February 11-13, 2008). This is for the MFA’s Network 2008.

I interviewed Dr. Harry Markowitz at his San Diego area office yesterday. In Las Vegas now to talk with pro poker players.

I interviewed David Harding of Winton Capital for my upcoming film documentary today. Harding runs the firm Winton Capital. His firm started 10 years ago with 10 million under management. Today his firm manages over 10 billion. Before Winton Capital Harding helped start AHL (now Man).

I am in London for a film interview, so my posting has been spotty!

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.

I was on the road today interviewing a very successful trend trader. While today was clearly “volatile”, he could have cared less what was going on during market hours. Why? He doesn’t make his trading decisions during market hours. He is all about having the flight plan set before the market opens. All if/then contingency decisions are made in advance. The rules rule.

Taking that story into account take a look at a simple little chart. We all know there has been some serious volatility during that stretch. Now think about each day during that three month window. Almost every day was filled with “news”. Almost every day had talking heads on TV giving a forecast or prediction.

See where I am going? Doesn’t the existence of a trend trader with a thirty year track record conflict with a talking head forecaster convinced his or her “words” matter?

VIDEO: Wallstrip Chat with Michael Covel.

Check out the interview above. As a side note, while I may not act daily as a full-time trader for clients, I am a full-time entrepreneur who takes on healthy risks continually. My career earnings have come from business ventures, real estate, investing with traders and trading. However, at this stage of my life I have no desire to go the direction of managing money for clients (and all the associated red tape). Stay tuned for another interesting development!

If you live in the Washington, DC Metro area and would like to be interviewed (on film) about the subjects I write about, drop me a line. I have found that question and answer formats work much better than standing in front of the camera preaching, hence my desire to get others involved.