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Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods That Turned Ordinary People Into Legendary Traders
"We're going to raise traders just like they raise turtles in Singapore."
So trading guru Richard Dennis reportedly said to his long-time friend William Eckhardt nearly 25 years ago. What started as a bet about whether great traders were born or made became a legendary trading experiment that, until now, has never been told in its entirety.
Way of the Turtle reveals, for the first time, the reasons for the success of the secretive trading system used by the group known as the "Turtles." Top-earning Turtle Curtis Faith lays bare the entire experiment, explaining how it was possible for Dennis and Eckhardt to recruit 23 ordinary people from all walks of life and train them to be extraordinary traders in just two weeks.
Only nineteen years old at the time-the youngest Turtle by far-Faith traded the largest account, making more than $30 million in just over four years. He takes you behind the scenes of the Turtle selection process and behind closed doors where the Turtles learned the lucrative trading strategies that enabled them to earn an average return of over 80 percent per year and profits of more than $100 million. You'll discover
How the Turtles made money-the principles that guided their trading and the step-by-step methods they followed
Why, even though they used the same approach, some Turtles were more successful than others
How to look beyond the rules as the Turtles implemented them to find core strategies that work for any tradable market
How to apply the Turtle Way to your own trades-and in your own life
Ways to diversify your trading and limit your exposure to risk
Offering his unique perspective on the experience, Faith explains why the Turtle Way works in modern markets, and shares hard-earned wisdom on taking risks, choosing your own path, and learning from your mistakes.
So trading guru Richard Dennis reportedly said to his long-time friend William Eckhardt nearly 25 years ago. What started as a bet about whether great traders were born or made became a legendary trading experiment that, until now, has never been told in its entirety.
Way of the Turtle reveals, for the first time, the reasons for the success of the secretive trading system used by the group known as the "Turtles." Top-earning Turtle Curtis Faith lays bare the entire experiment, explaining how it was possible for Dennis and Eckhardt to recruit 23 ordinary people from all walks of life and train them to be extraordinary traders in just two weeks.
Only nineteen years old at the time-the youngest Turtle by far-Faith traded the largest account, making more than $30 million in just over four years. He takes you behind the scenes of the Turtle selection process and behind closed doors where the Turtles learned the lucrative trading strategies that enabled them to earn an average return of over 80 percent per year and profits of more than $100 million. You'll discover
How the Turtles made money-the principles that guided their trading and the step-by-step methods they followed
Why, even though they used the same approach, some Turtles were more successful than others
How to look beyond the rules as the Turtles implemented them to find core strategies that work for any tradable market
How to apply the Turtle Way to your own trades-and in your own life
Ways to diversify your trading and limit your exposure to risk
Offering his unique perspective on the experience, Faith explains why the Turtle Way works in modern markets, and shares hard-earned wisdom on taking risks, choosing your own path, and learning from your mistakes.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 9, 2007
About the author
Curtis Faith
18 books23 followersCurtis Faith is best known as a member of the elite Chicago trading group, the Turtles. The group started as a bet between its founders: Were traders born or raised? In his early 20s, Curtis earned more money than makes good sense as a Turtle and he wrote a bestselling book, Way of the Turtle, detailing these adventures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
September 26, 2009
While I fully acknowledge that the momentum space is obscenely crowded these days, and this book (as well as Market Wizards Interviews with Top Traders and some other notables) runs the risk of giving the impression that any 21 year old with a laptop should be running his own hedge fund, the reality is that this is the best book I have ever read on the topic of trend following. Not only does it scratch the itch of finally stating precisely what those damn "turtles" were up to, it actually contains excellent discussions of the psychology of trading, how to set up and run back-tests, particularly how to avoid some of the more insidious biases that infect back-tests all too often, and other topics of interest. This was a much better book than I anticipated it being, which probably gets it a star it doesn't otherwise deserve.
July 26, 2020
Curtis M. Faith was one of the 'turtles' selected by Richard Dennis to learn how to trade. He claims to have the best returns among all the turtles. That may be correct for a year or two. He was the favorite student of Richard Dennis and so he got to trade a bigger account than the other turtles and thus earned a bigger bonus than the others. What happened to him after the turtle program was terminated?
He has been drifting here and there. He has not been able to trade successfully, though many other turtles set-up their own shop and applied what they learnt from Dennis and his friend William Eckhardt. His firm was investigated by SEC and he was arrested for some other crimes after a few years of publication of this book.
This book gives an inner view of the turtles program and tells about some of the basics of trading. Yes, his views are a bit biased but there is good introductory information for someone who is starting to trade.
This was a turtle who lost his way. When the discipline of trading under Richard Dennis was removed, he did not know how to handle himself. He was the youngest turtle in the program and it is quite evident that he was not able to handle his early success.
He has been drifting here and there. He has not been able to trade successfully, though many other turtles set-up their own shop and applied what they learnt from Dennis and his friend William Eckhardt. His firm was investigated by SEC and he was arrested for some other crimes after a few years of publication of this book.
This book gives an inner view of the turtles program and tells about some of the basics of trading. Yes, his views are a bit biased but there is good introductory information for someone who is starting to trade.
This was a turtle who lost his way. When the discipline of trading under Richard Dennis was removed, he did not know how to handle himself. He was the youngest turtle in the program and it is quite evident that he was not able to handle his early success.
May 31, 2010
Mildly interesting when read as an autobiography of one of the "turtle" traders. But as a "how-to" guide for making money in today's markets: complete hocum.
June 2, 2008
The book is marketed as the story of the journey of a group of young people who were selected by two wealthy guys to become traders. The problem with this: this book is more of a how-to trade, how-to evaluate your systems, along with general advice about attitudes that should be taken towards trading. This is fine, and the book does a good job doing what it does, but it is not -- NOT -- the thrilling story of a group of young traders thrown into the pressure cooker of trading and their hijinks and meltdowns. Still, a solid trading book that helps you create a system if you don't already have one.
June 17, 2017
Don't expect any magic secret from this one about the Turtles, except for one. Follow the rules and do not deviant from them. It is a story about trend following being taught to a small group and their trading afterward. It is more of a head game than a trading story. Good stuff contained within the pages for trading, not so much what or the set-up's to trade, but how to keep your head in the trade. Worthwhile read for that alone. As to the life of the author, that is a different story as to why he went awry from a career in trading. He said why, but the answer leaves much to the imagination.
November 13, 2011
It is a good book that is meant to humble anyone who can "beat the market".
September 16, 2022
Pradžią, daugiau apie psichologinius aspektus, skaičiau gana lengvai. Kai jau priėjau skaičiavimo ir formulių dalį, buvo kur kas sunkiau. Galiausiai perskaičiau visą knygą. Iš jos supratau, kad toks kelias ne man, bent jau ne šiuo gyvenimo etapu.
January 14, 2020
This book reads like a memoir, thus, a more appropriate title should be The Autobiography of a Trained Trader. The first few chapters I find it particularly useful for beginners. The author explained the stages of the getting into the market just like when he first started without knowing anything.
The author said repeatedly that having an edge is key to their success. I mean isn't common sense that any market player needs to have an edge in order to stay profitable and stay in the game? But thats exactly what most lack - risk, money management and discipline.
Even though he disclosed the original "Turtle Trading Rules" in the bonus chapter, personally, I am not a big fan of the technical aspect of this book. One needs to develop his/her own trading systems and hold a reasonable amount of scepticism of tactics from others. Plus, you never truly know what kind of strictly confidential information that has not been mentioned in the book. But still, I find the psychology aspect of this book relevant. And it is without a shadow of a doubt that technical rules and systems "only account for less than 20%" in order to become a successful trader. Whats going on in one's mind when trading is their biggest enemy. I think this book further reinforced that belief to me - that confidence in the plan, consistency to follow the plan and discipline to execute the plan are key in this business. "Keep it simple." A better version should be KISS - keep it simple, stupid.
Quotes:
"Winning traders make money by exploiting the consistently irrational behaviour patterns of the other traders.
Good traders don't try to predict what the market will do; instead they look at the indications of what the market is doing.
Failure is a necessary prerequisite to success and learning. Learning requires failure; you won't learn if you are not willing to make mistakes and fail."
Trading is a way of life. Trading is simple but not easy. Trading is a matter of nature, not nurture is proven not 100% true. Perhaps 50/50.
The author said repeatedly that having an edge is key to their success. I mean isn't common sense that any market player needs to have an edge in order to stay profitable and stay in the game? But thats exactly what most lack - risk, money management and discipline.
Even though he disclosed the original "Turtle Trading Rules" in the bonus chapter, personally, I am not a big fan of the technical aspect of this book. One needs to develop his/her own trading systems and hold a reasonable amount of scepticism of tactics from others. Plus, you never truly know what kind of strictly confidential information that has not been mentioned in the book. But still, I find the psychology aspect of this book relevant. And it is without a shadow of a doubt that technical rules and systems "only account for less than 20%" in order to become a successful trader. Whats going on in one's mind when trading is their biggest enemy. I think this book further reinforced that belief to me - that confidence in the plan, consistency to follow the plan and discipline to execute the plan are key in this business. "Keep it simple." A better version should be KISS - keep it simple, stupid.
Quotes:
"Winning traders make money by exploiting the consistently irrational behaviour patterns of the other traders.
Good traders don't try to predict what the market will do; instead they look at the indications of what the market is doing.
Failure is a necessary prerequisite to success and learning. Learning requires failure; you won't learn if you are not willing to make mistakes and fail."
Trading is a way of life. Trading is simple but not easy. Trading is a matter of nature, not nurture is proven not 100% true. Perhaps 50/50.
March 20, 2008
This book offers insights of a legendarily successful trader to people who is considering putting serious efforts into investing. It starts with some story telling resembles biography of the author, which is actually entertaining in some sections. The book becomes more and more technical as it progresses. It could turn dry in many chapters of trading analysis if you're not looking for the technical aspect of it.
Many thought that the book will disclose secret of successful trading, but it's actually just some very simple principles that you can find in the first couple chapters. However, the secret does involve many aspect of the technical analysis, which is what the rest of the book is about.
Many thought that the book will disclose secret of successful trading, but it's actually just some very simple principles that you can find in the first couple chapters. However, the secret does involve many aspect of the technical analysis, which is what the rest of the book is about.
August 2, 2011
I was expecting more about the specific training the turtles received. I was somewhat disappointed at the material included on that subject, but the book was still a worthwhile read.
I thought the chapter on risk and money management was particularly good, as well as the chapter that detailed the perils of over-fitting your strategies to the bactesting data.
I'm not sure you'll be able to "trade like a turtle" after reading the book, but it will give traders quite a few good ideas to consider.
I thought the chapter on risk and money management was particularly good, as well as the chapter that detailed the perils of over-fitting your strategies to the bactesting data.
I'm not sure you'll be able to "trade like a turtle" after reading the book, but it will give traders quite a few good ideas to consider.
August 26, 2008
The recap of the Turtles is interestingly 3-star. But what stands out is the author's explanation of the different roles (investors, traders, arbitragers, etc) that play out in the market and his chapter on volatility-based risk adjustment units used in position sizing.
March 7, 2021
If you expect to find the "holly grail" of trading, this book is not for you.
If you are searching for common patterns between the winners in this game, you can find a few here.
I particularly liked the psychology part of the book. Here are some quotes:
Scientists call distortions in the way people perceive reality cognitive biases. Here are some of the cognitive biases that affect trading:
• Loss aversion: The tendency for people to have a strong preference for avoiding losses over acquiring gains
• Sunk costs effect: The tendency to treat money that already has been committed or spent as more valuable than money that may be spent in the future
• Disposition effect: The tendency for people to lock in gains and ride losses
• Outcome bias: The tendency to judge a decision by its outcome rather than by the quality of the decision at the time it was made
• Recency bias: The tendency to weigh recent data or experience more than earlier data or experience
• Anchoring: The tendency to rely too heavily, or anchor, on readily available information
• Bandwagon effect: The tendency to believe things because many other people believe them
• Belief in the law of small numbers: The tendency to draw unjustified conclusions from too little information
The Turtle Mind
• Think in terms of the long run when trading.
• Avoid outcome bias.
• Believe in the effects of trading with positive expectation.
The lessons of the Turtle class can be summed up in these four points:
1. Trade with an Edge: Find a trading strategy that will produce positive returns over the long run because it has a positive expectation.
2. Manage Risk: Control risk so that you can continue to trade or you may not be around to see the benefits of a positive expectation system.
3. Be Consistent: Execute your plan consistently to achieve the positive expectation of your system.
4. Keep It Simple: The core of our approach was simple: catch every trend. Two or three trades might account for all your profits, so don't miss a trend or you might kill your whole year. This is simple and easy to understand, not easy to do.
Dos and Don'ts for Thinking Like a Turtle
1. Trade in the present: Do not dwell on the past or try to predict the future. The former is counterproductive, and the latter is impossible.
2. Think in terms of probabilities, not prediction: Instead of trying to be right by predicting the market, focus on methods in which the probabilities are in your favor for a successful outcome over the long run.
3. Take responsibility for your own trades: Don't blame your mistakes and failures on others, the markets, your broker, and so forth. Take responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them.
To understand why this is important, let's dig further into the components that make up the edge for a system. System edges come from three components:
• Portfolio selection: The algorithms that select which markets are valid for trading on any specific day
• Entry signals: The algorithms that determine when to buy or sell to enter a trade
• Exit signals: The algorithms that determine when to buy or sell to exit a trade
Edges are found in the places that are the battlegrounds between buyers and sellers. Your task as a trader is to find those places and wait to see who wins and who loses.
Trading edges exist because of divergences in market perceptions and realities that result from cognitive biases. They exist because economists are wrong in their belief that market players are rational. Market players are not rational. Chapter 2 discussed how cognitive biases provide trading opportunities in a theoretical sense. This chapter will discuss that notion in further detail by using actual price data.
Support and Resistance
The concept of support and resistance is fundamental to almost all types of trading. Support and resistance is simply the tendency for prices not to exceed previous price levels. One can understand this concept most easily by examining its presence on a price chart.
Here is what I believe accounts for a trader's lack of success in trading commodities:
• No plan: Many traders base their trades on hunches, rumor, guesses, and the belief that they know something about the future direction of prices.
• Too much risk: Many otherwise excellent traders have been ruined because they incurred too much risk. I'm not talking about 50 percent or 100 percent more risk than is prudent. I have seen traders who trade at a level that is 5 or 10 times more than I consider prudent even for aggressive trading.
• Unrealistic expectations: Many new traders trade with too much risk because they have unrealistic expectations about how much they can earn and what sorts of returns they can achieve. This is often also the reason new traders believe they can start trading on the basis of fundamental data; they believe they are smart enough to 'beat' the market with little or no training and very little information.
The Myth of the Expert
The 'don't optimize' counsel is an effect of what my friends and I like to call the myth of the expert. Unfortunately, in most fields the number of people who really understand what's going on is very limited. For every true expert, there are scores of pseudo-experts who are able to perform in the field, have assembled loads of knowledge, and in the eyes of those who are not experts are indistinguishable from the true experts. These pseudo-experts can function but do not really understand the area in which they claim expertise.
True experts do not have rigid rules; they understand what's going on, and so they do not need rigid rules.
Pseudo-experts, however, don't understand, and so they tend to look at what the experts are doing and copy it. They know what to do but not why it should be done. Therefore, they listen to the true experts and create rigid rules where none were intended.
One sure sign of a pseudo-expert is writing that is unclear and difficult to follow. Unclear writing comes from unclear thinking. A true expert will be able to explain complicated ideas in ways that are clear and easy to understand.
Another common characteristic of pseudo-experts is that they know how to apply complex processes and techniques and have been well trained but do not understand the limits of those techniques.
In trading, a good example would be someone who can perform complex statistical analyses of trades, runs a simulation that generates 1,000 trades, and then assumes that she can draw conclusions from those trades without regard for the fact that they might have been drawn from only two weeks of short-term data. These people can do the math but do not understand that the math does not matter if next week is radically different from the last two weeks.
Don't confuse experience with expertise or knowledge with wisdom.
Trader Effects
An observer effect is a concept from physics in which the act of measuring a phenomenon sometimes affects that phenomenon; the observer disturbs the experiment by the act of observing. A similar thing happens in trading: The act of trading itself can change the underlying market conditions on which the success of a trade is predicated. I call this a trader effect. Anything that repeats with enough consistency is likely to be noticed by several market participants. Similarly, a strategy that has worked especially well in the recent past is likely to be noticed by many traders. However, if too many traders start to try to take advantage of a particular strategy, that strategy will cease working as well as it did previously.
Live By the Ego, Die By the Ego
This is the major reason why beginning traders are drawn to discretionary trading. Discretionary trading feeds the ego; it is trading that relies on one's judgment, in contrast with systematic trading, where trading decisions are made by using rules that specify exactly when and how much to buy and sell. So when you use your judgment to trade and you win, the ego wins. You can then brag to your friends how you are the master of the markets.
I see this particular behavior constantly on online trading forums—especially the broad-based ones that attract new traders. You regularly see posts from individuals bragging about how they bought just before a run-up, or they have found the Holy Grail and have a 90 percent accurate system, or they have been trading for three months and have made 200 percent. They invariably have done this by trading with too much leverage, so they might have turned $5,000 into $15,000; however, they run a very high risk of losing that $15,000 because they are trading too aggressively. A few months later, you may see the same traders post that they have blown up their account and lost everything. These individuals were trading to feed their egos, and as the saying goes, live by the ego, die by the ego.
Humble Pie, The Best Food for Traders
If you want to be a great trader, you must conquer your ego and develop humility. Humility allows you to accept the future as something that is unknowable. Humility will keep you from trying to make predictions. Humility will keep you from taking it personally when a trade goes against you and you exit with a loss. Humility will let you embrace trading that is based on simple concepts because you won't have a need to know secrets so that you can feel special.
If you are searching for common patterns between the winners in this game, you can find a few here.
I particularly liked the psychology part of the book. Here are some quotes:
Scientists call distortions in the way people perceive reality cognitive biases. Here are some of the cognitive biases that affect trading:
• Loss aversion: The tendency for people to have a strong preference for avoiding losses over acquiring gains
• Sunk costs effect: The tendency to treat money that already has been committed or spent as more valuable than money that may be spent in the future
• Disposition effect: The tendency for people to lock in gains and ride losses
• Outcome bias: The tendency to judge a decision by its outcome rather than by the quality of the decision at the time it was made
• Recency bias: The tendency to weigh recent data or experience more than earlier data or experience
• Anchoring: The tendency to rely too heavily, or anchor, on readily available information
• Bandwagon effect: The tendency to believe things because many other people believe them
• Belief in the law of small numbers: The tendency to draw unjustified conclusions from too little information
The Turtle Mind
• Think in terms of the long run when trading.
• Avoid outcome bias.
• Believe in the effects of trading with positive expectation.
The lessons of the Turtle class can be summed up in these four points:
1. Trade with an Edge: Find a trading strategy that will produce positive returns over the long run because it has a positive expectation.
2. Manage Risk: Control risk so that you can continue to trade or you may not be around to see the benefits of a positive expectation system.
3. Be Consistent: Execute your plan consistently to achieve the positive expectation of your system.
4. Keep It Simple: The core of our approach was simple: catch every trend. Two or three trades might account for all your profits, so don't miss a trend or you might kill your whole year. This is simple and easy to understand, not easy to do.
Dos and Don'ts for Thinking Like a Turtle
1. Trade in the present: Do not dwell on the past or try to predict the future. The former is counterproductive, and the latter is impossible.
2. Think in terms of probabilities, not prediction: Instead of trying to be right by predicting the market, focus on methods in which the probabilities are in your favor for a successful outcome over the long run.
3. Take responsibility for your own trades: Don't blame your mistakes and failures on others, the markets, your broker, and so forth. Take responsibility for your mistakes and learn from them.
To understand why this is important, let's dig further into the components that make up the edge for a system. System edges come from three components:
• Portfolio selection: The algorithms that select which markets are valid for trading on any specific day
• Entry signals: The algorithms that determine when to buy or sell to enter a trade
• Exit signals: The algorithms that determine when to buy or sell to exit a trade
Edges are found in the places that are the battlegrounds between buyers and sellers. Your task as a trader is to find those places and wait to see who wins and who loses.
Trading edges exist because of divergences in market perceptions and realities that result from cognitive biases. They exist because economists are wrong in their belief that market players are rational. Market players are not rational. Chapter 2 discussed how cognitive biases provide trading opportunities in a theoretical sense. This chapter will discuss that notion in further detail by using actual price data.
Support and Resistance
The concept of support and resistance is fundamental to almost all types of trading. Support and resistance is simply the tendency for prices not to exceed previous price levels. One can understand this concept most easily by examining its presence on a price chart.
Here is what I believe accounts for a trader's lack of success in trading commodities:
• No plan: Many traders base their trades on hunches, rumor, guesses, and the belief that they know something about the future direction of prices.
• Too much risk: Many otherwise excellent traders have been ruined because they incurred too much risk. I'm not talking about 50 percent or 100 percent more risk than is prudent. I have seen traders who trade at a level that is 5 or 10 times more than I consider prudent even for aggressive trading.
• Unrealistic expectations: Many new traders trade with too much risk because they have unrealistic expectations about how much they can earn and what sorts of returns they can achieve. This is often also the reason new traders believe they can start trading on the basis of fundamental data; they believe they are smart enough to 'beat' the market with little or no training and very little information.
The Myth of the Expert
The 'don't optimize' counsel is an effect of what my friends and I like to call the myth of the expert. Unfortunately, in most fields the number of people who really understand what's going on is very limited. For every true expert, there are scores of pseudo-experts who are able to perform in the field, have assembled loads of knowledge, and in the eyes of those who are not experts are indistinguishable from the true experts. These pseudo-experts can function but do not really understand the area in which they claim expertise.
True experts do not have rigid rules; they understand what's going on, and so they do not need rigid rules.
Pseudo-experts, however, don't understand, and so they tend to look at what the experts are doing and copy it. They know what to do but not why it should be done. Therefore, they listen to the true experts and create rigid rules where none were intended.
One sure sign of a pseudo-expert is writing that is unclear and difficult to follow. Unclear writing comes from unclear thinking. A true expert will be able to explain complicated ideas in ways that are clear and easy to understand.
Another common characteristic of pseudo-experts is that they know how to apply complex processes and techniques and have been well trained but do not understand the limits of those techniques.
In trading, a good example would be someone who can perform complex statistical analyses of trades, runs a simulation that generates 1,000 trades, and then assumes that she can draw conclusions from those trades without regard for the fact that they might have been drawn from only two weeks of short-term data. These people can do the math but do not understand that the math does not matter if next week is radically different from the last two weeks.
Don't confuse experience with expertise or knowledge with wisdom.
Trader Effects
An observer effect is a concept from physics in which the act of measuring a phenomenon sometimes affects that phenomenon; the observer disturbs the experiment by the act of observing. A similar thing happens in trading: The act of trading itself can change the underlying market conditions on which the success of a trade is predicated. I call this a trader effect. Anything that repeats with enough consistency is likely to be noticed by several market participants. Similarly, a strategy that has worked especially well in the recent past is likely to be noticed by many traders. However, if too many traders start to try to take advantage of a particular strategy, that strategy will cease working as well as it did previously.
Live By the Ego, Die By the Ego
This is the major reason why beginning traders are drawn to discretionary trading. Discretionary trading feeds the ego; it is trading that relies on one's judgment, in contrast with systematic trading, where trading decisions are made by using rules that specify exactly when and how much to buy and sell. So when you use your judgment to trade and you win, the ego wins. You can then brag to your friends how you are the master of the markets.
I see this particular behavior constantly on online trading forums—especially the broad-based ones that attract new traders. You regularly see posts from individuals bragging about how they bought just before a run-up, or they have found the Holy Grail and have a 90 percent accurate system, or they have been trading for three months and have made 200 percent. They invariably have done this by trading with too much leverage, so they might have turned $5,000 into $15,000; however, they run a very high risk of losing that $15,000 because they are trading too aggressively. A few months later, you may see the same traders post that they have blown up their account and lost everything. These individuals were trading to feed their egos, and as the saying goes, live by the ego, die by the ego.
Humble Pie, The Best Food for Traders
If you want to be a great trader, you must conquer your ego and develop humility. Humility allows you to accept the future as something that is unknowable. Humility will keep you from trying to make predictions. Humility will keep you from taking it personally when a trade goes against you and you exit with a loss. Humility will let you embrace trading that is based on simple concepts because you won't have a need to know secrets so that you can feel special.
January 15, 2024
A better systems development book is Van Tharps “trade your way to financial freedom” a better psychology book is mark Douglas’ “Trading in the Zone” and a better overall history of the turtle traders is “the complete turtle trader.” If you’re looking for tips on how to properly backtest this is the book for you, however since my goals aren’t backtesting right now, I didn’t receive much use from this read. There are some decent tips on trading psychology, ego, and types of markets and environments however. Also, i entered this book expecting to read more on Faith’s personal experiences within the turtle program but that wasn’t the direction of this book. Somewhat of a let down, but if I ever need to do some backtesting for some reason, I might return to this book.
March 10, 2024
Decent information regarding the Turtles, book is outlining more swing trading over the course of weeks but still has value on those looking to day trade. Overall, the book teaches solid fundamentals that are required if one wants to be successful trading.
June 4, 2022
Cool book, makes me bullish on this strange market;)
July 16, 2008
I enjoyed the story and how it compelled me to think on a personal level. When reading most books on stock market investing, readers may feel as though they're being lectured. This book may have lessons to learn from yet it translates in a way (Turtle Way) that the author is sharing his experiences as a former Turtle day trader. Some notable lessons include market patterns, managing risks, trader biases and logging your studies.
As I approach the end of the book, I was disappointed to discover that I am not worthy to be a Turtle because I lack the material parameters. This goes to show that not every way, Turtle Way or otherwise, is right for me. That is, anyway, until I reach those parameters.
As I approach the end of the book, I was disappointed to discover that I am not worthy to be a Turtle because I lack the material parameters. This goes to show that not every way, Turtle Way or otherwise, is right for me. That is, anyway, until I reach those parameters.
April 10, 2012
Don't expect to find here any read-to-use trading rules. Or maybe I've missed something :)
Nevertheless it is quite a nice read, and it contains a number of interesting observations about financial markets and trading.
Probably the most important observation is that trader should not try to predict the market direction for it is simply not possible.
The key to trading is to be systematic, and use the thoroughly tested system, even if it occasionally generates loses. As long as you are convinced it will turn around in a longer period.
Since you need capital to trade, you should be pay a lot of attention to position sizing for avoiding risk of blowing up. As long as you have the system with the edge and the capital, you are in the game.
Nevertheless it is quite a nice read, and it contains a number of interesting observations about financial markets and trading.
Probably the most important observation is that trader should not try to predict the market direction for it is simply not possible.
The key to trading is to be systematic, and use the thoroughly tested system, even if it occasionally generates loses. As long as you are convinced it will turn around in a longer period.
Since you need capital to trade, you should be pay a lot of attention to position sizing for avoiding risk of blowing up. As long as you have the system with the edge and the capital, you are in the game.
January 29, 2014
A fairly good book on trading concepts and mindsets. Curtis Faith being one of the original and more successful of the Turtle group. Some criticism of special treatment had been leveled at him of favoritism by other members which he addresses. Essentially Curtis says he was successful because he followed the rules and was more disciplined. He offers some pretty solid and realistic advice on what it takes to survive and then succeed in the rough and tumble world of trading. Though the experiment of the Turtles took place years ago much of what came out of it is still relevant today. A worthwhile read for those interested in gaining a foothold on this challenging endeavor.
July 12, 2013
The book is pretty good it describes that trading is hard job which demands good preparation, a lot of patience. Strategy must be completed with risk assessment. I think that turtles were successful because they have one of the best mentors and at their time market was much simpler than nowadays. Anyway whether you are discretionary trader or automation fan it is worth reading.
August 26, 2019
- Good job explaining how focused learning approaches, analytical thinking and avoiding biases can lead to trading success.
- I found the biases especially interesting when applying to other aspects of my life.
- You'll be disappointed if you're looking for the nuts and blots of how to make money trading. It focus more on the correct approach.
- I found the biases especially interesting when applying to other aspects of my life.
- You'll be disappointed if you're looking for the nuts and blots of how to make money trading. It focus more on the correct approach.
Read
January 22, 2008Very good book about Technical Trading. It is also philosophical and explores human psychology. One chapter includes the specific filters that the now legendary group Turtles used to earn extremely high returns for years, the author being the best performing amongst this legendary group.
May 17, 2011
Very interesting book, especially for someone whose kind of math geeky like Faith. Couldn't finish it cause ultimately I'm not THAT interested/don't have that much attention span for trading (as appose to investing which I'm much more interested in).
July 17, 2013
Are you serious about trading financial instruments - stocks, options, futures, etc? If so, this book should be in your reading list. You will learn a systematic and psychological approach to trading.
August 25, 2007
Will definitley give you a good perspective on all those 'genius' traders out there. Not far off from Trading Places.
March 5, 2013
On page 179 so far. Wish there were more examples, real life examples, from Curtis' experience as a Turtle.
April 7, 2010
Basic test [yes/no:]: Would I recommend you read this book or not. Was it worth the few hours spent reading it? Am I pleased that I spent the time reading it? --- Yes ---
Read
March 5, 2011Suggested by my husband, I realized that I have absolutely no interest in this subject....officially abandoned.
April 20, 2012
This book contains lots of ideas on backtesting methods to trade more methodically.
January 4, 2013
Inspiring, can't tell you yet if it works.
April 5, 2013
IMPOSSIBLE to rate this high enough... for anyone serious about systematic, non-emotional, non-drama trading/investing.
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