Jesse Livermore

Why does everyone quote Jesse Livermore? He was a horrible trader, who blew up every couple of years.

 

fascination with the dead and famous.

 

Not necessarily because he was a great trader. But, because his book (the one Lafeverre wrote) has a lot of trading quotables.

Have to agree, he sucks as a trader and as a person. He was a manic gambler, not a trader.

 

he shared his heart...he is my hero..whenever I get depressed I read reminissance of a stock operator...I read it far too often latey. But i have trouble interacting with people not trading.

Michael B.

 

Well, whatever works for you, but I wouldn't emulate his trading style. It was unsuccessful and it is now outdated.

 

Reading the tape is not outdated, where did you get that from?

 

you are not a trader if you don't "blow up" and live long enough. I love when novices and finance writers criticize Jesse Livermore. It is like sparrows flocking an eagle.
Having said this the man was not a God by all means but shit I wonder how many on ET can come into the same caliber as he was.....

 

Tape reading per se is not outdated, but Livermore's style of tape reading in outdated. The markets move faster and more people are doing it, so his style needs to be adjusted to compensate for that.

 

Good point. The point of reading the book is trading psychology, not how good/bad he was as a trader.

 

Well, then the lesson should be: Read Livermore's book to learn what no to do. What good is making money, if you just lose ALL of it back. He sucked as a trader.