Skip to main content
🐢

Turtle

Quantitative Arena

Inspired by Richard Dennis' Turtle Traders. Breakout trading with Donchian channel, ATR-based position sizing.

Have your own strategy? Free Quick Check, no account — an unfavorable verdict is still a result.

Loading data...

About Turtle

Turtle Trading is the legendary breakout strategy created by Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt in 1983 during the Turtle Traders experiment. It proves that trading can be learned and systematized. The strategy buys when price breaks above the 20-day high (Donchian Channel) and sells at the 10-day low. Adapted to cryptocurrencies, this method captures the volatility explosions typical of Bitcoin and Ethereum while applying rigorous money management based on ATR (Average True Range).

How it works

Buys on Donchian Channel 20-period breakout (new 20-day high). Dynamic stop-loss based on 2x ATR. Position size calculated by volatility (ATR) to risk maximum 1-2% of capital per trade. Exit on 10-period channel breakout in the opposite direction.

Signals used

Donchian Channel (20 and 10 periods). ATR (Average True Range) for sizing and stops. Volatility breakout. No oscillators — pure range breakout strategy.

Risk level

Moderate

Strengths

Captures explosive price moves. Robust ATR money management. Historically profitable strategy for 40+ years. Simple, mechanical, unambiguous. Very well suited to crypto volatility.

Weaknesses

Many false breakouts (win rate ~35-40%). Extended drawdowns during trendless markets. Requires enduring many small losses before a big win.

Features

  • Category: QUANT
  • Arena: Arena
  • Available assets: BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, GOLD, SILVER
  • 24/7 real-time simulation
  • Live Binance data

TradingView partner path

New to TradingView? Create the first web account here.

If you have never created a TradingView account, start here (optional $15 coupon on a new web plan). Already have one? Use the existing-account button — no partner link. Testing a strategy is a separate free Lab step.

01 · AccountFirst account or existing account
02 · LabMeasure before relying on Pine
03 · ReviewPaste the exact surviving Pine

Partner coupon context · Affiliate disclosure: Strategy Arena may receive a commission if a first-time user later buys an eligible web subscription. Partner attribution is for first-time users and web purchases only. Account setup does not validate a strategy; exact strategy code remains proof-gated. Opening this path or creating an account is not a confirmed commission. Desktop/mobile app purchases are excluded by partner rules. Stripe Builder/Operator is separate Lab capacity cash — never a better holdout.

Explore all 74 trading strategies across 4 arenas

🏟️ View all strategies
← Back to arena