Michael Covel

The film I am producing is done shooting. We are in editing. What a process! Time consuming as !@#$.

Earlier I posted screen shots of interviewees for the film I am producing. Here are more:

Harry Markowitz (Nobel Prize Winner)
Barry Ritholtz (Fund Manager, CNBC personality)
Peter Borish (Fund Manager)
Rich Blake (Magazine Editor)
Tala McDonnough (Model)
Karina Jett (Pro Poker Player)
Evelyn Ng (Pro Poker Player)
Chris Ferguson (Pro Poker Player)
Antonio Esfandiari (Pro Poker Player)
Howard Lederer (Pro Poker Player)
Steve Zolotow (Pro Poker Player)
Paul Wasicka (Pro Poker Player)
Me in Macau

The back and forth crossover from the world of cards (bridge, poker, etc.) to Wall Street is much more prevalent than the average person might know.

“The basic concept that applies to both poker and trading is that the primary object is not winning the most hands, but rather maximizing your gains.”
- Jeff Yass

I spoke with Chris, Howard and Steve today for my film. They had some very interesting perspectives on risk, loss, winning, imperfect knowledge, competition, regulation, games and life to name a few topic areas.

Spotted on a post by Barry Ritholtz:

Someone asked the other day about my podcasts. They are still going strong here.

I interviewed Paul Wasicka yesterday in Las Vegas for the film I am producing. The simularities behind Paul’s poker process (resulting in over $7 million in winnings in a few years time) and top traders’ trading process are freakish. Paul’s interview ended a film travel stretch for me that started In Washington, DC on October 30. I went from DC to London to Frankfurt to Hong Kong to Macau to Hong Kong to Tokyo to DC to NYC to DC to San Diego to Las Vegas to DC on Nov 21.

Film project underway.

Some screen shots from the film I am producing:

Bill Miller
David Harding
Salem Abraham
Eric Bolling
Larry Hite
Lindsay Campbell
Michael Mauboussin
Congressman Baker

As I have mentioned I am producing a film documentary now. Shooting started in August. Who have I interviewed so far on camera for the film?

Larry Hite
David Harding
Charles Faulkner
Bill Miller
Eric Bolling
Michael Mauboussin
Barry Ritholtz
Peter Borish
Salem Abraham
Vernon Smith (Nobel Prize winner)
Mark Mobius
Kevin Bruce
Congressman Richard Baker (R)
Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D)
Rich Blake
Lindsay Campbell of Wallstrip.com
Harry Markowitz (Nobel Prize winner)
David Harding

I added three new videos to YouTube.com today. These are from a June 07 speech in Tokyo. Part 1:

Parts 2 and 3 can be found here. The speech is around 30 minutes divided across three clips.

Yes, I know it is silly. And of course it is dated. But don’t you wish these guys were making fun of today’s roster of talking heads?

So hedge funds are “risky” (Watch Video), but mutual funds that lose over 80% are not?

WallStrip was featured on ABCNews recently here. During the interview with Howard Lindzon and Lindsay Campbell a video of the WallStrip website was played. Each time ABCNews showed the WallStrip website it was an image of my WallStrip interview. I will take that press any time I can get it!

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!

A short video clip from a speech of mine about Amaranth.

A great audio clip interview with Ace Greenberg. Top notch wisdom from Bear Stearns legend. Requires free REAL player.

A reader added a personal story about Ace:

I sat across from Ace when I was a grunt intern one summer at Bear during college. I used to ask him questions whenever I could. The two things that stood out in my mind: 1) I asked him what the great trades had in common. He said the best trades in hindsight were the ones he felt like he was gonna throw up at the time he initiated the trade and the trades he felt most comfortable with were the ones that killed him; 2) Also he said then that understanding, and allowing yourself to take a loss was the most important thing in the business.

I added a new video excerpt to YouTube.com today. The other (3) clips can be found here.

I don’t know the man in the video clip that follows. I just want my readers to consider the first 50 seconds of this video. His style or how he trades is not something I subscribe to or track, but his opening 50 seconds where he talks about the difficulties of speaking about ‘performance’ is useful. The rest of his pitch is a rambling fundamental monologue not useful in my opinion.

3rd video clip from September presentation in Hong Kong.

Pictures of event below.

This video clip excerpt posted on YouTube.com is from a presentation I gave at a September 2006 CLSA investors conference in Hong Kong.

A completely unrelated to trading question came in:

Michael, I’ve been listening to some of your podcasts (great stuff, by the way!) and I wanted to find out what audio equipment do you use to create the files? Your voice sounds very clear. I’m particularly looking for suggestions on sound card, microphone, etc. Thanks so much! Rahim

Real straightforward.

1. Macintosh workstation.
2. Neumann TLM 103 Microphone.
3. Mbox.
4. Audio Hijack.

That’s it!