Way of the turtle

xiv
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Foreword

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trading, forgetting the past and the future. Why? Because you know
from your historical testing that you probably will be wrong most of the
time but that your gains will be much larger than your losses. This will
result in a positive expectation. Curtis tells the readers why they must
understand and have confidence in the expectation of their systems.
It’s that confidence that will make them long-term winners. 
Other excellent topics include:
• How the Turtles were trained and what they actually learned.
• The real “secrets” of the Turtles (I’ve already given you lots of clues).
• An excellent discussion of the problems involved with system
development and why people make mistakes in system
development because they don’t understand the basic statistical
principles involved in sampling theory.
• A superb discussion of why most systems fail to perform
adequately. Even though most good systems are dropped for
psychological reasons, there are many bad systems out there that
look good at first glance. If you want to know why they look
good and how to spot them, you must read this book. 
• Finally, there is an interesting discussion of robust measures of
systems. If you understand this material, you will have gone a
long way toward being able to design a profitable long-term
system for yourself that will work.
Put all of this together with a number of stories about Curtis’s expe-
riences as a Turtle, plus his amazing ability to synthesize his experi-
ences as a trader and get to the essence of what is important, and you
have a book that is a must-read for all traders or anyone who has con-
sidered putting his or her money into the markets. 
Foreword
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xv

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The Turtle program began as a bet between Richard Dennis and Bill
Eckhardt over whether trading can be taught. Richard was willing to
stake his own money on the idea that trading can be taught. In Way of
the Turtle, Curtis gives his opinion about the outcome of that bet (it
might not be what you think), but when you read his opinion, I’d like
you to think about one more thing: Forty people were interviewed from
over a thousand applicants, and only a portion of those forty were
selected. Combine that with what Curtis says about sampling and I
think you have the real answer to the question of whether anyone can
learn to trade. 
Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.
Trading Coach
President, The Van Tharp Institute