Turtle bisque.

Moving at different speeds, the Dennis "Turtles" have raced and crawled into the big money management circle.

A decade after the start of his training program, Richard Dennis can safely say he won the bet (made with his partner Bill Eckhardt) that trading can be taught.

Nine of his 20 students - dubbed the "Turtles" - still are trading for clients and now in total manage more than $1.5 billion. A $10,000 investment Jan. 1, 1985, would have grown to $197,460 at the end of 1994, or 1,875%, according to the dollar-weighted turtle index compiled by TASS Management in London (see "Who ever said turtles are slow?").

Former turtle Sam DeNardo, now with Chicago-based Sjo Inc., also compared 10 turtles' results since [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] 1989 (the year most cut loose from Dennis) with a composite of well-known money managers Paul Tudor Jones, John Henry, Monroe Trout and Willem Kooyker of Blenheim. He found the turtles yielded 344% in the six-year period, beating the supertraders by 40%.

Dennis' program brought together bright, young people who had little or no trading experience. Coming from diverse backgrounds (from creating games to merchandising grain), the turtles learned different lessons, held together by a common thread.

"It's imperative to maintain the utmost discipline. This means managers must slick to their system even in the face of outside factors that may point to the contrary," says Liz Cheval of EMC Capital Management in Hinsdale, Ill. With discipline comes a mental balance, according to Cheval: "Never get too excited during profitable periods or overly upset during negative periods."

Having spent six years on the floor before he entered the program, Jim DiMaria of JPD Enterprises in Niles, Ill., says he benefitted most from Dennis' long-term perspective. "You cannot focus on the short-term, you have to look at the big picture," DiMaria says. "A single day is just a blip."

Somewhat incongruously (judging from their relatively large drawdowns), the turtles stress Dennis taught them prudent money management.

"Obviously that's where a lot of new traders go wrong," says Mike Carr of MC Futures in Oconomowoc, Wis. He adds basic risk management takes place on three levels: maximum dollars at risk in any one trade and as a percentage of total equity under management, and cutting back position sizes when going through a drawdown.