I don't think trading strategies are as vulnerable to not working if people know about them, as most traders believe. If what you are doing is right, it will work even if people have a general idea about it. I always say you could publish rules in a newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and discipline.
Richard Dennis
...he placed classified ads proclaiming 'trader wanted,' he got some 1,000 responses from people eager to learn his methods. He settled on fewer than two dozen novices--among them two professional gamblers and a fantasy-game designer--and after a two-week training program, he gave them money to trade under his firm's auspices. Several went on to become top commodity-fund managers...Business Week
Unlike Eckhardt (and most other savants) Dennis believed that trading could be taught and learned. Eckhardt belonged to the you're born with it or you're not camp.Barclays Report
Richard Dennis must be saluted for his skills as a trader and teacher. His instruction to his students the Turtles was a great story and Trend Following philosophy has stood the test of time.
Dennis himself has made hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. But while his students have had successful money management careers, Dennis seems to not mesh well with clients. If Dennis just traded for himself he would be fine (and much richer).
Michael Carr: Turtle Trader from Dennis Camp
With a reasonably good trading program, the number one priority is staying in the game--to be there to participate and benefit when the really outstanding market opportunities come along. That means that good money management is essential. If the severity of drawdowns can be limited, comebacks are much easier.
Michael Carr
Michael Carr was a Turtle. His company is MC Futures.
Former Profession: Carr was on the creative management staff of TSR, the game company of Dungeons and Dragons fame.
Q. How did you become a Turtle?
A. I started with TSR when there were only a few employees. In the ensuing years, the company went through a spectacular growth phase, which culminated with over three hundred people on the payroll. The company hit hard times and made drastic cutbacks in order to survive. I lost my job along with two hundred other workers. It was around this time that I picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal. Ironically, that was the same day that Richard Dennis ran his ad seeking trading trainees.
The New Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Another of the Turtles, Michael Carr, a former fantasy game designer found Dennis' ad in a newspaper the day he'd lost his job. Michael had no trading experience at all, but shortly before getting fired he conceived an idea to create a game based on stock trading. He'd read several brochures and visited 6-day evening courses, so he did have a rudimentary idea of what market is. He was probably one of the few applicants who didn't know who Richard Dennis was - a funny accident happened when Carr asked Dennis whether he used technical or fundamental analysis. Dennis couldn't help giggling - everybody knew he used strictly technical analysis.
Jonathan R. Craven
2nd Generation TurtleInspiration to New Traders
We're not really interested in people who are experts at the French stock markets or German bond markets. It doesn't take a huge monster infrastructure - not Harvard MBAs and people from Goldman Sachs.Jerry Parker of Chesapeake Capital
Jonathan Craven must be glad his former boss views the world as he does in the above quote. Craven, a second generation Turtle, is not of Harvard pedigree, but rather he attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. ODU is not what most would consider the fast track to Wall Street success, but it has not stopped Craven from kicking butt. He is another in a long line of trained Trend Followers.
Now in his 30's Craven spent 7 years as an associated person with Chesapeake Capital under Jerry Parker's tutelage. After launching his small one-man firm in 1998 and struggling for two years with meager returns, he finally hit his stride with Trend Following.
His firm GIC, LLC has produced the following results:
2003: +16.0% (first 2 months)
2002: +25.62%
2001: +24.9%
2000: +13.6%
1999: -11.0%
1998: -5.0%
On quick glance it is easy to see that for clients Craven has elected to not shoot for Bill Dunn type returns (Dunn is now up +50% for the first 8 months of 2002), but Craven's returns easily outpace buy and holding the Nasdaq over the same period.
So what makes Craven special? He essentially started from scratch and works solo. His firm launched with $50,000 out of the gate. Now with $16 million under management he proves hard work and determination are still the keys to Turtle-style success. He proves the one-man only potential of trading like a Turtle on a small budget. If Jonathan Craven can do it, he must be an inspiration to all seeking success as a money manager or just trading their own account from home or work.
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