trendfollowing's Commentaries
Criticism of “The Complete TurtleTrader”
I caught some criticism of “The Complete TurtleTrader” recently that was worth responding to. People should keep in mind that the Turtle story has spanned three decades and dozens upon dozens of people. As a biographer of such a story you have to make decisions about who the real players are and who the bit players are. Once you have properly determined the bit players including every last detail about them, good or bad, doesn’t make much sense. For example, the following text was authored by an ex-Turtle and NOT included in my book:
“I am writing to inform you that as of July 31, 2001, [...] has liquidated all open positions, and has stopped trading in the futures markets. Unless I receive a response from a majority of you to the contrary, there are no plans to resume trading of any kind at this point, and instead we will be seeking an orderly dissolution of the company, and a return of all monies to the investors, as quickly and expeditiously as possible. The reasons for this decision are many, but the primary factor is that we simply have not made any money in almost three years. After getting off to a profitable start the first year, the fund is now showing a negative return of about ten percent since inception. I think that the trading game has somehow fundamentally changed, and that long-term trend following is no longer a viable approach to extracting profits from either the futures or equity markets.”
Clearly, the inane statement “long-term trend following is no longer a viable approach to extracting profits from either the futures or equity markets” was not true. I can only assume that this statement was designed for some other purpose 8 years ago.
Tags: book-news | critics
