Rules You Won’t Follow Don’t Matter
What TurtleTrader.com and the Former Turtle don't tell you is that trading rules are only a small part of successful trading. The most important aspects of successful trading are confidence, consistency, and discipline.
Rules that you can’t or won’t follow will not do you any good.
The Turtles had a lot of reasons to be confident in the rules they were given. For the most part, we had the confidence to follow them even during losing periods. Those who didn’t consistently follow the rules didn’t make money and were dropped from the program.
Traders who want to be successful will figure out a way to gain enough confidence in their own rules of trading to be able to apply them consistently.
As original Turtles, we had it easy. We were given rules by some of the world’s most successful and famous traders, Richard Dennis and his trading partner Bill Eckhardt. They taught us the rules and the reasons why we could trust those rules. Then we were placed into an open office with ten other traders who had been taught those same rules. In some respects it was easier to follow the rules than to not follow the rules.
On the whole, we had the confidence and the discipline to consistently apply the rules we were given. This was the secret of our success as traders.
Those who failed to follow the rules invariably failed as Turtles. Some of them decided they could make more money selling the Turtle rules than they did as Turtles.
Rules that you can’t or won’t follow will not do you any good.
Following Rules
As famous trader and father of the Turtles, Richard Dennis said: “I always say that you could publish my trading rules in the newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and discipline. Almost anybody can make up a list of rules that are 80% as good as what we taught our people. What they couldn’t do is give them the confidence to stick to those rules even when things are going bad.”
– from Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager.
The Turtles had a lot of reasons to be confident in the rules they were given. For the most part, we had the confidence to follow them even during losing periods. Those who didn’t consistently follow the rules didn’t make money and were dropped from the program.
Traders who want to be successful will figure out a way to gain enough confidence in their own rules of trading to be able to apply them consistently.
As original Turtles, we had it easy. We were given rules by some of the world’s most successful and famous traders, Richard Dennis and his trading partner Bill Eckhardt. They taught us the rules and the reasons why we could trust those rules. Then we were placed into an open office with ten other traders who had been taught those same rules. In some respects it was easier to follow the rules than to not follow the rules.
On the whole, we had the confidence and the discipline to consistently apply the rules we were given. This was the secret of our success as traders.
Those who failed to follow the rules invariably failed as Turtles. Some of them decided they could make more money selling the Turtle rules than they did as Turtles.
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