The Complete TurtleTrader: The Legend, the Lessons, the Results [Hardcover]
If you are curious about the story of the legendary “Turtles”, then this book is for you. If you want to learn how to to trade stocks, currencies, or commodities – this book will touch on all the basics.
- What happens when legendary trader Richard Dennis puts a want ad in the paper to hire traders?
- What kind of results would ordinary people make if they were given a winning system and a million dollar account?
The results will surprise you. This experiment was over an argument that Richard Dennis had with his trading partner over whether traders were born or could be trained, the classic nature vs nurture debate. The first class was started in 1984 with 14 students in the first class. After 2 weeks of training they were given accounts to trade. The returns were very volatile month by month but like their mentor, most averaged returns of 50-100% a year. In the end Rich Dennis was correct, and his firm successfully produced several traders that become millionaires, one went on to manage a billion dollar fund. After the program ended and they were set loose on their own their continued success seemed to be based on their ability to be entrepreneurs on their own no longer having the guidance of their mentor.
The turtles were taught trend following along was risk management. The program wanted to get all the traders to strictly follow the system they were given. They were taught to not think in terms of money, they wanted money to be more abstract so they could think clearly with out the pressure that thinking in terms of cash creates. A bad month, a bad quarter, or even a bad year does not mean much in the grand scheme. They would only trade in a trending market with the goal being to catch the meat of the move in a strong trend.
Richard Dennis wanted them to follow rules and avoid making judgments.The turtles were technical traders with the belief being that price is reality and intelligence is the appearance. They traded price action not news or fundamentals.They had two systems they could use. S1 essentially said you would buy or sell short a market if it made a new twenty day high or low. S2 was longer term using and eleven week breakout for an entry signal and a four week breakout in the opposite direction for an exit.
Author Michael Covel has written an excellent account of the complete Turtle story, interviewing many of the original turtles and updating where they are now and showing several of their accounts performances while in the program. This review has only scratched the surface and I highly recommend purchasing this book, it is among the best trading books I have read, for the story and the trading advice. I have made thousands in the market using many of these same principles found in this book for developing trading systems, using risk management, and allowing price to be reality without being misled by my own opinions and judgement.
Stephen Burns a trend follower and break out trader that specializes in the Darvas System. To learn more about him and his trading style you can pick up his recent book at Amazon.com
