Book Review - Way of the Turtle

[nizar]

Wayne, so wats your final review on this book?

What would you give it out of 10 ?

 

[wayneL]

Wayne, so wats your final review on this book?

What would you give it out of 10 ?

I would give it 7.5/10

I think it skimps on some points that he could have gone further with (Same with any book I suppose). But gives plenty of avenues for further research if interested.

Given the mystique around the whole Turtle experiment, I'd still put down as a must read, as much for the turtle story as the trading information in it.

 

[jempol]

Look like this book so much inspiration.
Gotta to have this one for private collection.
Thanks for the information

 

[chops_a_must]

I would give it 7.5/10

I think it skimps on some points that he could have gone further with (Same with any book I suppose). But gives plenty of avenues for further research if interested.

Given the mystique around the whole Turtle experiment, I'd still put down as a must read, as much for the turtle story as the trading information in it.

Just finished reading it. Haven't been able to put it down for the last 3 days.

I would really like to have read more in there about the trading stories, and things to do with the turtles that weren't strictly trading related. Just seemed like you could get a grip on the turtle system if it had just been written in 10-15 pages or so. Which is probably why it worked so well... the simplicity of the method.

What I found staggering was the results of the automatic exit at 80 days.

It was also nice knowing why my arbitrary discretionary trades have worked for me. The philosophy behind it is on the same track.

It has given me a lot of ideas to potentially trade with, and given me ideas that were not written down, but are apparent because they weren't...

I wish I had the skills to be able to make the indicators for some of the things used in the methods.

Has anyone created these? Or actually tried trading the turtle method? I'm thinking of paper trading variants, with set rules. Should be fun.

 

[blaze87]

i read/scrimp thru both way of the turtle and the complete turtletrader and find it to be much better than most other technical bs. just wondering if any1 has acutally tried applying it.
from what i can gather , a huge capital is required to follow the rules of the turtles.

 

[Porper]

Has anyone created these? Or actually tried trading the turtle method? I'm thinking of paper trading variants, with set rules. Should be fun.

I have tried backtesting using the Turtle method, even changed some parameters but I never get a profit, still I am a beginner at backtesting so take that with a pinch of salt.

Haven't read the book yet, on the to do list.

 

[chops_a_must]

I have tried backtesting using the Turtle method, even changed some parameters but I never get a profit, still I am a beginner at backtesting so take that with a pinch of salt.

Haven't read the book yet, on the to do list.

He says that is the outcome for a lot of people, but it is the position sizing that makes the difference.

The market filters may also lead to something. I'd be more inclinced to use the sector index as a filter, rather than the overall market.

 

[Porper]

He says that is the outcome for a lot of people, but it is the position sizing that makes the difference.

The market filters may also lead to something. I'd be more inclinced to use the sector index as a filter, rather than the overall market.

Well I supposed you can play with the thousands of input variations if you are into that, and probably tinker until it backtests positive, I have tried and get to near enough breakeven, not good in a trending market like we have just had.Be happy to know if anybody can get a better result.Anyway off topic so I'll shut up

 

[Kauri]

I may be off track but I think that since it has been as widely publicised and available as it is it has lost it's edge???
Cheers
.........Kauri

 

[chops_a_must]

I may be off track but I think that since it has been as widely publicised and available as it is it has lost it's edge???
Cheers
.........Kauri

From memory that's what Van Tharp says, but he says the strategy still works on longer time frames.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get it to work at some level, but it would probably have to be vastly different from the rigid original rules. Breakout trading was massively lucrative 12-18 months back, and breakdown trading has been the same over the last few. Anecdotally of course...

 

[Mike Trader]

This is a good point to raise and I think you're right. And as Wayne said, as a Turtle, he was the most successful. Although he took a 15 year hiatus from trading between '88 and '03. I notice that in the book he makes a lot of reference to the '87 crash and the effect that it had on his account...70% drawdown he approximates. Then a year or so later he stops trading....hmmm.

Ive read "Way of the Turtle" fine if you've got a million to start with and can tolerate 17 losing trade in a row. You need deep pockets and enough confidence to get though that - which seems a huge ask. He also says you need to trade every signal - you never know which is the big winner. I don't think I'd have the stamina to trade Donchian channels the way he has traded them. "Whatever works" with your own personality seems to be the best advice I've heard. But the book does have lots of interesting insights and definitely worth reading.Mike

 

[Timmy]

I haven't read the book. But has anyone tried the "Turtle Soup" strategy or any variants?

 

[Nick Radge]

I traded the full Turtle method back in 2001 for 6-months. I was lucky to last that long. Very difficult and even with a 100% systematic approach I found the workload quick high.

 

[BentRod]

I have just finished reading this book, bit disappointed with it to be honest.

I wanted to hear more inside stories about the whole turtle experiment not just another system text book with stuff that has been covered before.

 

[barmix]

Bentrod

If you want more information on the whole turtle experiment may I suggest you read "The Complete TurtleTrader" by Michael Covel.

Cheers
barmix