Every method in this course is a variation on one move: let the market prove it first. A breakout trader doesn't predict the trend — they demand evidence of it (a new high, a completed base, a stage change), enter as it appears, and defend the position with an exit that was decided before entry. This course walks the idea through history in eight modules — because each generation fixed a weakness in the last, and the sequence itself is the lesson.
It's a Level 2 course: you should know candlesticks, support/resistance, and moving averages (the Technicals foundations cover these). Each module links into the free reference Library — the playbooks, concepts, and trader profiles are the reference layer; these lessons are the guided walk.
I The idea and its origins
Modules 1–3 — why trends, and the first playbooks LIVE
- 1Why trends exist — the academic case: momentum in stocks since 1993, trend in everything since 1880, and what that evidence does and doesn't promise.
- 2Livermore's pivotal points — the first breakout playbook: waiting for the line of least resistance, and the sitting that made the big money.
- 3Boxes and channels — Darvas turns Livermore's instinct into a rule; Donchian turns the rule into a machine.
II Complete systems
Modules 4–7 — from entry signal to full method LIVE
- 4The Turtle system — the rare complete professional system that's legitimately free: Donchian breakouts, volatility-based sizing, and non-negotiable exits.
- 5Stage analysis — Weinstein's four-stage map: only buy breakouts when the market is in the stage that pays them.
- 6The cup with handle — O'Neil adds fundamentals: what a proper base looks like, and why volume must confirm the pivot.
- 7The volatility contraction pattern — Minervini's modern synthesis: contraction as the footprint of accumulation.
III The honest ledger
Module 8 — capstone LIVE
- ★When breakouts fail — whipsaws, failure rates, momentum crashes, and why the exit rules are the system. Includes the strategy built to trade against you.
Sources (credited, verified)
Free primary documents: The Original Turtle Trading Rules (published free by original Turtles, 2003) and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (public domain) — both quoted directly. · Academic anchors: Jegadeesh & Titman (1993), Moskowitz, Ooi & Pedersen (2012), Hurst, Ooi & Pedersen (2017), Asness et al. (2014). · Anchor books (credited, taught in our own words): How to Trade in Stocks · Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets · How to Make Money in Stocks · Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard. CAN SLIM® is a registered trademark of Investor's Business Daily, referenced as a named method; this course is independent and not endorsed by any author or publisher.