Classic Episode Rerun: The Legendary, Fraud–Sniffing Short Seller – Marc Cohodes

Classic Episode Rerun: The Legendary, Fraud–Sniffing Short Seller – Marc Cohodes

This is a rerun of a conversation I recorded in May 2018 with legendary short seller Marc Cohodes.

Show notes

Selected links

Topics discussed

  • How did Marc first get hooked on trading? 5:26

  • Data Access Systems: when a young Marc got burnt by fraud and turned to the “dark side”. 7:01

  • How does Marc handle a conversation with someone who’s lost money on his recommendations? 9:50

  • Marc’s definition of short selling. 17:30

  • What are the typical instruments that short sellers use to bet against companies? 20:38

  • The dynamics of a “short squeeze” 21:46

  • What companies does Marc NOT short vs. what companies he does, plus an easy acid test to tell the difference. 24:38

  • Why Marc should work for the SEC. 30:04

  • How to spot “fads” and “failures”. 31:19

  • Why Marc doesn’t like to “wrestle jaguars out of trees” – including Tesla. 40:25

  • How does Marc keep confidence in his thesis when the whole world is against him? 45:27

  • Why longs and shorts don’t mix. 50:29

  • The “Wig Indicator”. 53:19

  • The red flags and tells Marc looks for when deciding whether to short a company. 55:38

  • The full story of Marc’s short on Lernout & Hauspie. 1:04:17

  • What does Marc’s average day look like and what is “EFK”? 1:21:11

  • The state of the Canadian and Australian housing markets. 1:33:00

  • How Marc exposed NovaStar Financial and the time he went to Vegas. 1:37:20

  • The tragedy of 2008 and Marc’s take on how his hedge fund Copper River came undone. 1:52:46

  • Marc’s current position on MiMedx. 2:05:41

  • The classic technique of “channel stuffing”. 2:13:36

  • The FBI visit to Marc’s farm. 2:19:30

  • Is Marc afraid of anything? 2:25:20

  • What motivates Marc towards the end of his career? 2:35:05

  • Can Marc forgive? 2:39:53

  • Always avoid thesis creep. 2:44:30