Many Turtles achieved extraordinary success, with some making 100% or more per year over four years, proving the effectiveness of the taught system. That Dennis was possibly taking risks over and above his Turtles by a factor of 100 simply made no sense. He knew enough to make his students do the right thing, but had a difficult time disciplining himself.” Of course, if you want more information about The Complete Turtle Trader, you can also check out the video book review below. Maybe you could argue the book is a short summary of a very detailed story. But if that’s the biggest problem with this book then I think I can give it two thumbs up.
- Moreover, the book provides valuable insights into the Turtle Trader experiment, detailing the development and training of the traders.
- He shows how Dennis’s rules worked—and can still work today—for any investor with the desire and commitment to learn from one of the greatest investing stories of all time.
- The book provides an in-depth exploration of the distinctive trading strategies developed and utilized by the Turtles, highlighting the particular techniques taught by Dennis and Eckhardt.
- Positive reviews highlighted the book’s lessons on trend following, position sizing, and the importance of a systematic approach.
- Covel’s work focuses on educating traders about systematic approaches to the markets and the importance of risk management.
As was the case with my Trend Following book review, I am struggling to find something negative to say about The Complete Turtle Trader. But there was one part of the book that absolutely blew me away. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
Michael W. Covel – The Complete TurtleTrader – Review
An eye-opening story how the Turtles were taught to go against basic human nature, the flaws that we may not notice while making decisions but actually hurt our trading performance significantly. Richard Dennis had always thought trading to be something that could be learned. His partner William Eckhardt thought one was born either to be a trader or not. The two men decided to put their debate into action and through the training experiment find out about the nature vs nurture aspect. In 1983, C&D Commodities put an advertisement out in the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s stating that anyone could apply to become a trader, no prior experience was necessary and all the proprietary training was going to be provided by the firm. The students were going to trade the firm’s money and be able to keep a part of the profits.
- The general idea is to buy breakouts and close the trade when prices start consolidating or reversing.
- In 1983, legendary commodity traders Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt held the turtle experiment to prove that anyone could be taught to trade.
- Eckhardt was of the opinion that the root of Dennis’s achievements lay in a unique and innate talent for trading, possibly due to an intuitive “sixth sense” or a natural ability, rather than a set of teachable skills.
- This unorthodox approach to hiring, which strayed from Wall Street’s typical preference for candidates with established track records, attracted the attention of over a thousand individuals keen to receive guidance from an experienced market trader.
- Not only is it well written and easy and exiting to read, but I learned a tremendous amount.
The story of how a group of non-traders learned to trade for big profits is one of the great stock market legends. It’s also a great lesson in how sticking to a specific set of proven criteria can help traders realize greater returns. In this case, however, the results are close to flipping a coin, so it’s up to you to decide if this strategy is for you.
Part two take place after the experiment, when the Turtles have to face the real world as individuals and human nature reenters the picture. In a bizarre twist to the story, in spite of how rigid the trading rules were, Dennis’s allocation of capital to the Turtles themselves was not uniform. He played favorites, giving some millions while others only thousands. This created tension, rivalries and confusion among the group, a fascinating story in and of itself. There was also competition among the Turtles in terms of performance. Even though they followed the same rules, there was a wide variation of in each individual’s performance.
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Covel explores the enduring impact of the Turtle experiment on the trading sector, scrutinizing the persistent debate over the question of whether trading skills are inborn or can be acquired through learning. He emphasizes the emergence of a subsequent generation and scrutinizes the lasting lessons gleaned from this remarkable experiment. “To follow the good principles and not let fear, greed and hope interfere with your trading is tough. the complete turtletrader review You’re swimming upstream against human nature.”
In chapter 5 of The Complete Turtle Trader, Michael Covel actually reveals the exact trading systems that the turtles used to build their multi-million dollar fortunes. Customers find the book’s information quality positive, noting it is wonderfully researched and contains lots of learning material, with one customer specifically mentioning it provides basic trend following lessons. Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, finding it interesting and entertaining to read, with one customer noting it is very well researched. Trend following takes a small town guy at a gas station to trading legend worth $100 million? “The single hardest thing I have to do to make people understand how I trade is to convince them how wrong I can be about things, how much of a guess it is.”
The Complete Turtle Trader – Video Book Review:
Dennis believed anyone could be taught to trade the futures markets, while Eckhardt countered that Dennis had a special gift that allowed him to profit from trading. While the exact reason is unclear, Dennis was having some issues of his own. There is a whole chapter on Jerry Parker, a successful Turtle who founded Chesapeake Capital and started managing money for clients. There were couple of guys from the group who tried to make easy money by selling Dennis’s rules. They also tried to trade on their own but failed to repeat the process that they had under Dennis. A second-generation Turtle Salem Abraham got inspired by meeting and talking to Jerry Parker, the original Turtle.
Over time, it became clear that Jerry Parker was the standout success story among the Turtle traders. Covel charts Parker’s professional journey after leaving Dennis, highlighting the establishment of Chesapeake Capital in Richmond, Virginia, and his sustained record of impressive financial performance spanning more than two decades. The book provides an in-depth exploration of the distinctive trading strategies developed and utilized by the Turtles, highlighting the particular techniques taught by Dennis and Eckhardt. System 1’s strategy entailed commencing trades upon witnessing a price surge beyond the four-week threshold and wrapping them up following a downturn in price that persisted for two weeks.
In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: A Review and Summary of the Book by Andrew W. Lo
Overall, readers appreciated the historical account but were divided on its practical value for aspiring traders. Some of the Turtles did great, continuing on in the tradition of successful trend traders, others gave trading a shot but failed to repeat their prior performance, and still others became near total losers. The ongoing experiment shows that there is more to it than just following mechanical trading rules. The true secret is more fundamental and like human nature itself is neither simple nor easy to define.
By the early 1980s, Dennis was widely recognized in the trading world as an overwhelming success. He had turned an initial stake of less than $5,000 into more than $100 million. He and his partner, Eckhardt, had frequent discussions about their success.
The differing perspectives laid the groundwork for a practical experiment designed to resolve the argument definitively. The experiment was set up by Dennis to finally settle this debate. Dennis would find a group of people to teach his rules to, and then have them trade with real money.
By the time the experiment ended, Dennis had made a hundred million dollars from his Turtles and created one killer Wall Street legend. In The Complete Turtle Trader, Michael W. Covel, bestselling author of Trend Following and managing editor of TurtleTrader.com, the leading website on the Turtles, tells their riveting story with the first ever on the record interviews with individual Turtles. He describes how Dennis interviewed and selected his students, details their education and experiences while working for him, and breaks down the Turtle system and rules in full.
The Turtles were profitable, having grossed $150 million for him in four years! The program was a cash cow, and in spite of the rivalries, overall they were happy with their jobs, and they did it well. More importantly, they were under contract – they couldn’t just up and go work for a competitor. Dennis could have retired himself and let the Turtles keep raking in the dough. But instead he cut them all loose, just as the interview in Market Wizards (1989) was giving them ultra high profiles and putting them into tremendous demand on Wall Street for their knowledge. Dennis’s secret was out and multiplying, but Dennis himself had nothing to show for it.
