FT Guide to Foreign Exchange Trading

7

Developing a trading plan for currency markets

Are profitable currency traders born or made? It is a question that continues to engage investing circles. In 1983, a famous Chicago-based money manager called Richard Dennis bet his colleague William Eckhardt that it was possible to train novice traders from scratch. He recruited 23 people off the street, with no trading experience, and taught them how to become profitable traders. This was the beginning of his so-called ‘Turtle’ programme.

Not all of the Turtles succeeded, but enough did for Dennis to entrust them with millions of his own money and for them to go on to generate more than $175 million in profits in the next five years. A few went on to become successful money managers in ...