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Help explain Livermores' quote

  • #1
  • First Post: Jan 25, 2009 3:51am Jan 25, 2009 3:51am
English is not my first language, could someone please help me understand this quote by Livermore (or whoever wrote it):

''And right here let me say one thing: After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I've known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level
which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine—that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon.''

Im a bit unsure how to interpret the above. Thanks for you time!
  • #2
  • Jan 25, 2009 7:02am Jan 25, 2009 7:02am
The big money is made by 'the sitting and waiting' - not the thinking. Wait until all the factors are in your favor before making a trade. Once a position is taken the next difficult task is to be patient and wait for the move to play out.
or
Be sure you have a good clear reason to enter a trade and be sure you have a good clear reason to exit a trade.
-Jesse Livermore-
In trading, there is no bullshit. You either make money or you don't.
  • #3
  • Jan 25, 2009 7:09am Jan 25, 2009 7:09am
Patience ftw
  • #4
  • Jan 25, 2009 7:13am Jan 25, 2009 7:13am
Ahh, okay, patience!

Thanks!
  • #5
  • Jan 25, 2009 7:21am Jan 25, 2009 7:21am
he's referring to sitting on his hands and just doing nothing, letting the plan play out.
  • #6
  • Jan 25, 2009 8:48am Jan 25, 2009 8:48am
Don't chase the market... wait for the market.... just say "come to papa...."

Most times, if you got a load of money and your hands are itching to pull the trigger, it's smarter (not easier) you just sit on your pile of cash and wait for the right market conditions... this can be considered a winning position.

Cheers!

HT
Many share my views with me. But I don't share them with them...
  • #7
  • Jan 25, 2009 9:48am Jan 25, 2009 9:48am
hey Jonah, you've quoted from the book "Remenesciesnces of a stock operator" which is probablly one of the best books I've read on trading.

However its not written by Livermore although most people think it is. Its written by Edwin Lefvre, who was a journalist and not a pseudonym for Livermore. Jack schwager researched the book and found out and mentioned it in his market wizards seminar.

If you want real quotes by Livermore download the book "How I trade in stocks" this is written by Livermore himself.

The copyright has expired and you can download the book free from wikipedia on the Livermore page. Its only 70 pages and its written by the master himself.
  • #8
  • Jan 25, 2009 9:54am Jan 25, 2009 9:54am
  •  krue
  • | Joined Mar 2008 | Status: finger scares cat, power of illusio | 410 Posts
hold the position till the trend changes. anyone of you could tell you've done this part easily? I found myself this is the most difficult one to do.
  • #9
  • Jan 25, 2009 10:20am Jan 25, 2009 10:20am
sitting tight = letting your profits run

Edwin Lefvre wrote the book, but the stories were told to him by Jesse Livermore under the pseudonym Larry Livingston. I believe the stories originally appeared in the Saturday Evening Post or something like that.

Cheers,
Dave
  • #10
  • Jan 25, 2009 2:30pm Jan 25, 2009 2:30pm
Quoting davema
sitting tight = letting your profits run

Edwin Lefvre wrote the book, but the stories were told to him by Jesse Livermore under the pseudonym Larry Livingston. I believe the stories originally appeared in the Saturday Evening Post or something like that.

Cheers,
Dave
yes thats correct I think he interviewed Livermore before writing the book, what I was trying to say is that most people think Lefvre to be a pseudonym for Livermore which is incorrect as per Jack Schwagers research

http://www.wallstreetcosmos.com/man_of_mystery.html
The above link gives us some information about that
  • #11
  • Jan 25, 2009 5:18pm Jan 25, 2009 5:18pm
Quoting fugly
yes thats correct I think he interviewed Livermore before writing the book, what I was trying to say is that most people think Lefvre to be a pseudonym for Livermore which is incorrect as per Jack Schwagers research

http://www.wallstreetcosmos.com/man_of_mystery.html
The above link gives us some information about that
Fugly,

Thanks for the link to that article. It was very interesting.
Thanks,
Dave
  • #12
  • Jan 26, 2009 9:25am Jan 26, 2009 9:25am
Quoting fugly
hey Jonah, you've quoted from the book "Remenesciesnces of a stock operator" which is probablly one of the best books I've read on trading.

However its not written by Livermore although most people think it is. Its written by Edwin Lefvre, who was a journalist and not a pseudonym for Livermore. Jack schwager researched the book and found out and mentioned it in his market wizards seminar.

If you want real quotes by Livermore download the book "How I trade in stocks" this is written by Livermore himself.

The copyright has expired and you...
Yes, correct, it's really pure gold. What strikes me is the simplicity, and yet it's so hard to actually do, the patience I mean.

Stock market wizards is another gem, I really love it. Im jotting down all these 'gold nuggets' before I set out to make a trading plan. The clichees are the best, since there's a reason they have become clichees. (sorry can't spell
  • #13
  • Jan 26, 2009 11:07am Jan 26, 2009 11:07am
i love how everyone is going into these big discussions and arguements when wikkid answered the question in like the second or third post. lol. silly traders.

he was right though Jonah, it just means patience. that's all it means. not all this philosophical bs everyone else is trying to push up there about letting the plan play out and sticking to your rules and the meaning of life. patience, plain and simple.
  • #14
  • Jan 26, 2009 11:50am Jan 26, 2009 11:50am
Quoting blacksun1
i love how everyone is going into these big discussions and arguements when wikkid answered the question in like the second or third post. lol. silly traders.

he was right though Jonah, it just means patience. that's all it means. not all this philosophical bs everyone else is trying to push up there about letting the plan play out and sticking to your rules and the meaning of life. patience, plain and simple.
What are you on about 'big discussion and arguements(sic)'? The passage refers to the trait of letting profits run, not just patience. I don't know where you got that 'philosophical bs' from.
  • #15
  • Last Post: Jan 27, 2009 4:10am Jan 27, 2009 4:10am
Quoting birdt
What are you on about 'big discussion and arguements(sic)'? The passage refers to the trait of letting profits run, not just patience. I don't know where you got that 'philosophical bs' from.
You're right. As I read the passage from the book right now, I see that "patience" is just too easy for an answer, though it's definitely a part of it...
In fact it's about traders holding a winning position in a trending market and closing it out, hoping to get in again on a dip... In the end they're left behind and miss the rest of the move...
And it gets even more philosophical as he talks about the wise old man...
- "And when you're as old as I am and you've been through so many booms and panics as I have, you'll know that to lose you're position is something nobody can afford;...."
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