Trading is a life experience, it is not like any other business. As you become a better trader, you become a better person. But as you evolve it is difficult to look back at where you were. I believe this is why there are no other books which cover all the ground. Those traders who do make it often “forget” how they got there, not surprisingly, as a lot of the skills become subconscious. However, John has always combined his trading with writing about markets. This has given him a fairly unique insight and forced him to express personal matters which other traders just assume. It has also forced him to more carefully examine the precise process involved in becoming a successful trader. It is solely through this process that John Piper “discovered” the Trading Pyramid. This is the first attempt to create a model for trading success and traders will find it immensely useful. So not only does this book take the trader right through from the beginning to the end result (trading profits, lots of them!) it also provides a framework against which to work.

In the extreme northeastern corner ofthe Lone Star State ofTexas, about eight miles west ofTexar-kana, in a lonely farm-house on Sunday morning, June lO111, Amelia Gordon turned over in her bed and watched the sunlight streaming thru the window on the head of her new-born son. She had always hoped that this, her third son, would be born on Sunday, but he was born late Saturday night, June 9111,1906. A few months before his birth, his mother had suffered a severe shock on account ofthe death ofher oldest son in the San Francisco earthquake in April, and for a time it was feared that her third son might never be born to live. She was happy this Sunday morning when she looked at her bouncing baby boy, dreamed of his future, and thought of what his name should be. Calvin Gordon, the baby's father, had been a Captain in the U.S. Army in Spain.

If you’d been born in a cave and had lived there your entire life, with no knowledge of radio or television signals, you would probably be skeptical if someone were to tell you the air waves were filled with conversation, political commentary, advice for the lovelorn, hot stock tips, music, and even pictures. Of course, without a radio or television you would not be aware of the existence of such signals. The signals would be all around you, but you’d be oblivious to them without the means to pick them up. Similarly, if you are accustomed to a certain way of reading the financial news, you can pick up “signals” that a certain stock that seemingly has nothing much going for it will soon rise dramatically in price. Why? Because something is about to happen which will
literally force the stock market to recognize that stock’s true value. I call such stocks “superstocks,” because they can leap above any kind of market in a single bound.

You probably asked yourself the same questions: “Why would anyone give away the rules to the original Turtle Trading System? How can I be sure that these are the original Turtle Trading System rules as taught by Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt?” The answer to these questions lies in the origin of this project. This project had its seed in various discussions among a few of the original Turtles, Richard Dennis, and others regarding the sale of the Turtle Trading System rules by a former turtle, and subsequently, on a website by a non-trader. It culminated in this document, which discloses the Original Turtle Trading Rules in their entirety, free of charge. Why? Because many of us believed that we owed an obligation to Richard Dennis not to reveal the rules, even after our contractual 10 year secrecy pact ended in late 1993. For this reason, we did not look kindly upon the sale of those rules by a former turtle.

The stock market is no longer a members only field game of stockbrokers
playing the market. Like so many other industries, the Internet has changed the
market and the way we do business. With the click of a button, the average
individual now has access to the same information and facts that only stockbrokers were privy to a few years ago. Gone are the days when market
traders and specialists had the advantage of profiting from the ignorant public.
With today’s technology, you have the same opportunities as the professionals at your fingertips. The difference, of course, is knowledge and experience, both of which are within your grasp. High-speed access to information, providing real-time quotes and instant online trading has sprung day trading into a new profession of its own. People are realizing that they too can master the concept of day trading and compete professionally in a level-playing field.

When I began this project, the name I originally selected the "The Dow & The
Future." The more I explored the past, the more it became clear that is was impossible to discuss purely the stock market without involving not merely economics, but also foreign exchange and commodity price movement as well as the events within the eternal sea of politics itself. No matter who takes up the crusade to write of events long since past, they often begin with some preconceived notion of what may have taken place. Others often select facts which only support their own distorted or personal views. I should state for the record that when I began this project, I was under several false assumptions.

Frank J. Fabozzi is editor of the Journal of Portfolio Management and an adjunct professor of finance at Yale University’s School of Management. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Public Accountant. Dr. Fabozzi is on the board of directors of the Guardian Life family of funds and the BlackRock complex of funds. He earned a doctorate in economics from the City University of New York in 1972 and in 1994 received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Fabozzi is a Fellow of the International Center for Finance at Yale University. He is an Advisory Analyst for Global Asset Management (GAM) with responsibilities as Consulting Director for portfolio construction, risk
control, and evaluation.

The Foreign Exchange, also referred to as the "Forex" or "Spot FX" market, is
the largest financial market in the world, with over $1.2 trillion changing hands
every single day. If you compare that to the $25 billion a day volume that the
New York Stock Exchange trades, you see how giant the Foreign Exchange
really is. In fact it is three times larger than all of the US Equity and Treasury
markets combined! What is traded on the Foreign Exchange? The answer is money. Forex trading is where the currency of one nation is traded for that of another. Therefore, Forex trading is always traded in pairs. The most commonly traded currency pairs are traded against the US Dollar (USD). They are called ‘the Majors'. The major currency pairs are the Euro Dollar (EUR/USD); the British Pound (GBP/USD); the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY); and the Swiss Franc (USD/CHF).

Over the last decade I have met many of the top technical analysis "gurus" as well as shared experiences with thousands of newcomers. The common element I've discovered among investors who use technical analysis, regardless of their expertise, is the desire to learn more. No single book, nor any collection of books, can provide a complete explanation of technical analysis. Not only is the field too massive, covering every thing from Federal Reserve reports to Fibonacci Arcs, but it is also evolving so quickly that anything written today becomes incomplete (but not obsolete) tomorrow. Armed with the above knowledge and well aware of the myriad of technical analysis books that are already available, I feel there is a genuine need for a concise book on technical analysis that serves the needs of both the novice and veteran investor. That is what I have strived to create.

Stock prices go up and down. It would seem that it is simple to make a fast profit from day trading. You need to buy stocks after a price drop and sell them after some time with a profit. Unfortunately, this is a minus sum game. Bad stock selection can easily kill you. The faster you trade, the faster your losses become large. Every transaction has a cost: bid-ask spread and brokerage commissions. Very tiny profits will disappear in a long run when you take into account these transaction costs. Nevertheless, day traders still exist and many of them are very rich people. How did they do that? If you are a professional and trading on the floor of the exchange you can look for micro trends and catch the leaving train right on time. Big capital and zero commissions allow you to make micro profits constantly.