After losing trades, turtles would reduce effective equity, in order to scale back risk even further. Expand when you are winning, pull back when you are losing. But how did they know when to trade???

Entries. There were 2 breakout systems used by turtles. The first used a 20 day breakout. The second used a 55 day breakout. A 20 day breakout is where high or low exceeds high or low of preceding 20 days. They took trade when it was offered - i.e. this was not an 'end of day' system. If an opening gap caused breakout, turtles would still take trade, as idea was they would be in it for some days, and a couple of points at start didn't matter. Personally, (and everyone at www.traders101.com agrees!) we never chase gap. Obviously, turtles traded both long and short. There were a couple of extra rules, such as ignoring a signal if LAST breakout (whether turtle took it or not) would have led to a winner. The 55 day breakout would then become initiation point as a fail-safe on major moves. Full rules, are of course, available in free download.

Stops. Turtle traders ALWAYS used stops. They defined exit point BEFORE initiating a trade. Their positions could be so large that in order NOT to alert market, 'mental' stops were used. No trade could carry more than 2% risk. This means a stop would be 2 x N away from position.

Exits. Most breakouts do NOT result in trends. Most turtle trades, therefore, ended in losses. The winners therefore had to be BIG to cover losers, and they were. The first exit rule was to exit on a 10 day low or high against your position. The second method was an exit against a 20 day high or low. Simple, yes. But at time it worked. The HARD part for most traders is hanging on grimly as profits evaporate over 10 or 20 days! The cultivation of THAT discipline was real secret!

Does it still work? Sometimes. The market is well aware of legions of would-be turtles avidly watching for 20 day breakouts. 'Turtle Soup' is a common maneuver whereby a big player 'fakes' a move up or down to trigger turtle signals, then reverses it, stopping them out. Mean, ain't it? Bottom line, if you want to turtle trade, you need to adapt rules for your own personal style and hide your 'footprint' in market.

Statistics indicate that person who consolidates to a new loan will enjoy zero balances for a short time, but will eventually charge them back to all-time highs. The average time is two years. That means double trouble because of debt-consolidation loan. Before proceeding with any type of debt-consolidation loan, make sure you get honest answers to these hard questions:

* Is total consideration -- not just monthly payment -- of debt-consolidation loan (principal and interest) less than consideration combined for all debts it will pay off?

* Are terms reasonable? If, for example, new loan or credit card carries significant penalties (you lose attractive interest rate if you are late with one or two payments), that is not reasonable. If you must pay a big loan origination fee, that is not reasonable.

* Am I mature enough to cancel accounts that will be paid off in consolidation process?

Except in extreme cases, best way to face a load of unsecured consumer debt is to stop adding to it, develop your Rapid Debt-Repayment Plan (you can see a demonstration of how this works at http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com), then buckle down and get to work!