We read constantly about the men and women who make nine- and ten-figure fortunes in the markets-the Warren Buffetts, Paul Tudor Joneses, and Michael Milkens of the world. Do they have some incredible gift the rest of us lack, an ability to make cool decisions under fire when we let emotion get in the way, to coolly assess the impact of each trade as though millions -- or billions -- of dollars aren't riding on the next click of their mouse?

Richard Dennis, "the Prince of the Pits," a man who'd already made a fortune on the Street, was convinced that great trading wasn't a gift from God, but something that could be taught to anyone. So one day he made a bet with his partner, and ran a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal looking for trainees. And he didn't just hire finance professionals: his trainees -- who became known as the "Turtles"-- included an actor, a security guard, two professional blackjack players, a pianist, a fantasy game designer, and others. After two weeks of training, he set them loose, with a $1 million bankroll each to invest as they chose, and the right to keep a share of their trading gains for themselves, as long they adhered to the Turtle system. By the time the program ended, Dennis and his partner had made over $120 million -- from trades made by complete novices. Many of these Turtles then went on to trade for themselves, and some are among the top investors operating today.

我们不断地读到关于那些在市场上赚了九位数和十位数财富的男人和女人的故事——世界上的沃伦·巴菲特、保罗·都铎·琼斯和迈克尔·米尔肯斯。他们有我们其他人所缺乏的不可思议的天赋吗？当我们任由情绪阻碍时，他们有能力在激烈的竞争中做出冷静的决定，冷静地评估每一笔交易的影响，就好像数百万美元或数十亿美元不会在他们鼠标的下一次点击上一样？
理查德丹尼斯，“坑王子”，一个已经在街上发了财的人，相信伟大的交易不是上帝的礼物，而是可以教给任何人的东西。于是有一天，他和他的搭档打赌，在《华尔街日报》上登了一则招聘实习生的分类广告。他不仅雇佣了金融专业人士：他的受训者——后来被称为“海龟”——包括一名演员、一名保安、两名专业21点玩家、一名钢琴家、一名梦幻游戏设计师以及其他人。经过两周的训练，他让他们放松了，每人有100万美元的资金可以随意投资，只要他们坚持海龟制度，就有权为自己保留一部分交易收益。到项目结束时，丹尼斯和他的合伙人已经从完全新手的交易中获利超过1.2亿美元。这些海龟中的许多随后开始进行自营交易，其中一些是目前最主要的投资者之一。