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  • 9 Surprising Things Legendary Trader Jesse Livermore Said About Timing

    From businessinsider.com

    There are those who would convince you that it is somehow smart or in your best interest to be manically switching your investments around, back and forth, long and short, on a daily basis. To pay attention to this kind of overstimulation is the height of madness, even for professional traders. The most storied and important trader who ever lived, Jesse Livermore, would be tuning these daily buy and sell calls out were he alive and operating today. Because while he was a trader, he was not of the mindset that there was always some kind of action to be taking. Jesse Livermore's legacy is a bit of a double-edged ... (full story)

  •  Guest
  • | IP XXX.XXX.2.77
The sideways market in the mid 1930s destroyed him, you can only make money sitting and waiting if the market is trending, a sideways market will whipsaw you several times if you try to sit on a position for too long. There is no holy grail in trading, different strategies work for different markets.
Excellent article.

Every trader should read the 9 things Jesse said about trading.

To sum up his secret in 4 words, "Buy right, sit tight."
yes.Perfect
Early to bed, early to rise, keeps you healthy, wealthy and wise.
Could you guys open the link? When I click the link it gives me an error message : this website has a redirect loop.. can anyone post the correct link please?
Jesse livermore is a great trader I admit it but just think a little bit logical about the market at 1920 and today,Technology is rapidly growing.In 1920 there is no algo trading or HFT but now things have changed and maths breed named quants took the technology to their advatange and made financial market more complex than ever and now technology is slowly removing the human interactions step by step so in the future markets will be operated by programmers and robots created by them!!
Excellent article.
I can't open the link but I have read his biography.....what an intelligent trader he was.....his few simple rules served him well and when he abandoned his rules, he lost.....
Doing what you like is Freedom. Liking what you do is Happiness.
"Reminiscences of a stock operator" great book
  •  Guest
  • | IP XXX.XXX.2.174
haha....keep on listening to livermore... but in the end he end up broke.
Quoting Guest
haha....keep on listening to livermore... but in the end he end up broke.
Broke and took his own life . Now that's a role model to follow...
If this is the best that the best of the best can achieve, what can we mere mortals hope for?
Quoting Mingary
Broke and took his own life . Now that's a role model to follow...
If you break basic rules, expect to go broke!
Quoting Guest
haha....keep on listening to livermore... but in the end he end up broke.
All the more you can learn from his story and his life.
Quoting Guest
The sideways market in the mid 1930s destroyed him, you can only make money sitting and waiting if the market is trending, a sideways market will whipsaw you several times if you try to sit on a position for too long. There is no holy grail in trading, different strategies work for different markets.
true.he killed himself just before markets started to trend again.I also think he had no way of calculating the risk of ruin,he bet too big,about 10% position size.
wo-yoy! wo-yoy! wo-yoy! wo-yoi! wo-yoy-yoy-yoy!
Quoting Mingary
Broke and took his own life . Now that's a role model to follow...
If this is the best that the best of the best can achieve, what can we mere mortals hope for?
Yes...he took his own life because he suffered from depression, but it wasn't a recognised illness in those days, and so it wasn't treated. Depression causes people to take their own lives even today. And he didn't die broke either.....best you check your facts, or read his book....you might be surprised what you learn.
Doing what you like is Freedom. Liking what you do is Happiness.
Quoting Guest
haha....keep on listening to livermore... but in the end he end up broke.
Quoting Mingary
Broke and took his own life . Now that's a role model to follow...
If this is the best that the best of the best can achieve, what can we mere mortals hope for?
You two are Ignorant...just stupid
Anything can happen in FOREX. There's no 100% sure
From what I've gathered about Jesse Livermore, he is a little over-glorified. That's not to say he wasn't a great trader and business man or that I don't respect him. I consider him to be one of the most legendary traders. However, it wasn't until his later years that he realized the significance of sitting on trades (and gradual position building) because he couldn't push the market around anymore. In his earlier days, he wasn't so much a great trader as he was a market manipulator. He hints at this several times in the book, "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". Again, great businessman, but not as great of a trader as everyone makes him out to be. He was also a little reckless in his early days with his money management. He also admits to this by being a self described "plunger" who would leverage to the hilt - which explains why he would build and then lose entire fortunes several times over. He also said he traded for the thrill of having it all on the line rather than the money itself.
Quoting Mpx
Could you guys open the link? When I click the link it gives me an error message : this website has a redirect loop.. can anyone post the correct link please?
Here you go if still waiting for some one

http://www.businessinsider.com/jesse-livermore-quotes-about-patients-2013-8
Brrr, he's so ugly he would make an onion cry. But seriously, I've read his stuff and it's pure entertainment. Oldskool trend trading, something that's always worked, and always will.
forget about tomorrow, just steal away into the night
The novel 'reminiscences' is a cracking piece of fiction/part fact. That's all it is, as a learning tool it's useless. Unfortunately on some trading sites certain individuals tended to search for a hidden meaning, there isn't one. If there is a message I'd suggest it was his ability to bounce back.
Yes Squeeze you're right but JLL himself authored a book "How to trade in stocks", that is his work and he describes a trend trading system there.
forget about tomorrow, just steal away into the night
He was a reck regarding money management yeah, and his end may not be ideal for him to be a perfect role model.

But thats not important whats important is what you can take from his life lessons about speculation and life in general and benefit by not making the same mistakes at least.

About technology and revolutions in trading- Algos may jump ahead of humans in trades for milliseconds but they cant change the course of the market. Fear and Greed drive markets, they have been and will for ever and thats what Livermore meant when he said business and rules of speculation will never change.CB's can hold markets from months or years but it only gets worst when the break comes. Even the market cant stop market from going where it wants to go.

and people who think he is not what he's made out to be, show me a trader in any time in history who could trading from 100's to millions, survive risking 10%-25% and at times even more than 50% of his account on a single play/trade and survive for 48 years in the markets.
That's all you need to know. A gambler who failed at the most critical aspect of trading (look after the downside and the upside takes care of itself), who would have never been heard of if the author didn't find his life fascinating.

Quoting nasir.khan
He was a reck regarding money management yeah, and his end may not be ideal for him to be a perfect role model.
Quoting piptastic
You two are Ignorant...just stupid
Stupid is to believe everything you hear or read.
  •  Guest
  • | IP XX.XXX.240.22
Excellent article.

There is one thing he is right about to be a great trader and that is to have the ability to be patient, patient, patient and more patient.
Good point. Legend has it that he tried to kill himself several times, using several different methods, remarkable patience and diligence. Persistence beats resistance eh?

Quoting Guest
Excellent article.

There is one thing he is right about to be a great trader and that is to have the ability to be patient, patient, patient and more patient.
"The meek shall inherit the earth.." Yeah right, good luck with that shit..
Quoting Mingary
Stupid is to believe everything you hear or read.
yes since u were there beside him..u know the whole true story. my fault
Anything can happen in FOREX. There's no 100% sure
Quoting piptastic
yes since u were there beside him..u know the whole true story. my fault
good luck on your guru search
Quoting Mingary
good luck on your guru search
never needed a guru, never had the desire for one. Market is my only guru. Never thought of him as a guru but nobody can say that his advice aren't useful or true. Obviously the man had many demons in his personal life and nobody knows what truly happened but however he did make a shitload of money from the markets and that should be respected. So unless you made millions in the market you have no right to criticize someone that has already been where you strive to be. n that sir is why I called both of you Ignorant and stupid.
Anything can happen in FOREX. There's no 100% sure
Quoting piptastic
Obviously the man had many demons in his personal life and nobody knows what truly happened but however he did make a shitload of money from the markets and that should be respected. So unless you made millions in the market you have no right to criticize someone that has already been where you strive to be.
Damn right
Doing what you like is Freedom. Liking what you do is Happiness.
Quoting piptastic
never needed a guru, never had the desire for one. Market is my only guru. Never thought of him as a guru but nobody can say that his advice aren't useful or true. Obviously the man had many demons in his personal life and nobody knows what truly happened but however he did make a shitload of money from the markets and that should be respected. So unless you made millions in the market you have no right to criticize someone that has already been where you strive to be. n that sir is why I called both of you Ignorant and stupid.
Sure there are lessons to be learned from his track record; but are they not obvious, common sense bordering on trite ?
The right time, the right place, reckless and an enormous amount of luck. Are you sure this is what should be respected ?
There is a "Jesse Livermore" in every generation. When market conditions are right "the master" appears and disappears never to be emulated ever again.
Are you sure you are not seeing only what you want to see ?
Thinking clearly will make you free.
Quoting 2+2=4ex
From what I've gathered about Jesse Livermore, he is a little over-glorified.
2+2, I totally agree. I keep seeing traders quoting having read Reminiscences like it's some kind of badge of honor. And it's even worse when they use Livermore as a model to emulate when I think the proper use of the book is as a cautionary tale to learn from more than anything else.

For the same reason I hate recommending Market Wizards even though Wizards is a better book to learn from than Reminiscences.

If the objective is just to have a set of epigrams or platitudes to be guided by, I read a book called "The Zurich Axioms" which is all about having a proper risk-taking mindset and less about learning an edge. (And the book has some choice words to say about Livermore, if I remember rightly)

My two cents.
I'm not trying to convince anyone. I'm not in the "convincing" business.
Quoting skenobi
2+2, I totally agree. I keep seeing traders quoting having read Reminiscences like it's some kind of badge of honor. And it's even worse when they use Livermore as a model to emulate when I think the proper use of the book is as a cautionary tale to learn from more than anything else.

For the same reason I hate recommending Market Wizards even though Wizards is a better book to learn from than Reminiscences.

If the objective is just to have a set of epigrams or platitudes to be guided by, I read a book called "The Zurich Axioms" which is...
Well said skenobi. I also agree on "The Zurich Axioms" having some gold nuggets for mindset and approach.
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  • Posted: Aug 13, 2013 12:30am
  • Submitted by:
     Newsstand
    Category: Educational News
    Comments: 32  /  Views: 11,257