he always paid his debts back (even after declaring bankruptcy when he was not legally required to pay debts back) and so the banks were always willing to lend him money to trade the markets. He was a very trustworthy individual. The banks could trust that even if he went bankrupt, he'd still pay them back at some point...
He borrowed a small stake of other big traders. Apparently WD Gann lent him $10K when he was down and out.
".......blew his account????????" He left his brains on the bathroom ceiling of a Manhattan restaurant in 1940. I think that was the fifth blowup. Been a while since I read that. I never understood studying a guy that blew up five times and out once. To me, it's how you end up. Ending up like Hitler is not what I consider a mark of success. And talking about being rude. He probably ran the restaurant out of business too. I wonder if he paid for the meal.......NOT.
An important part of being a trader is dealing with big losses. If you don't know that then you probably have a lot to learn my friend. Livermore is worth studying because he made lots and lost lots. He was the epitome of Trading. He was inclined toward risking because his experience had told him that he had been right many times prior. Do you argue that he would not have been successful once again had he not committed suicide? He had built multi-million dollar fortunes (in todays market, up to billions) five times. I have no doubt that had he lived he'd have done it again and again and again. You say he blew his account five times. But guess what? You fail to mention that he became a multi-millionaire five times as well. He rode around in a rolls, and lived in a mansion. He travelled the world. When you have created such wealth in your life, come back here and then we will take your comments more seriously. Cause honestly, you're putting down a man who accomplished so much relative to your own accomplishments. Would you not agree that the man deserves respect from his equals? How much more would you say he deserves from "aspiring" traders who only dream of matching his success in the markets?
Coat check room/hotel. Had Livermore not taken his own life perhaps he would have rolled another fortune; who knows. I believe he didn't have the strength to endure. His own self-worth was embedded into his account. The depression was to much. Maybe not so much the lost money but the failure itself left him as a shell.
"Through unknown mechanisms, he yet again lost much of his trading capital, accumulated through 1929. Thus, in 1934, he declared bankruptcy for a second time. Although untouchable trusts and cash assets at his death totalled over $5 million, he had failed to regain his trading confidence by his death. A lifelong history of clinical depression had finally become dominant in his final years. In 1935, Dorothy shot their son, Jesse Livermore Jr., in a heated drunken argument. The son survived, but the episode caused a scandal. He would divorce Dorothy and marry another woman whose previous three husbands had all committed suicide. This would prove to be a grim harbinger. In 1940, his book on trading strategies, building on the founding fame of 'Reminiscences of a Stock Operator' was published. In the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on November 28, 1940, he committed suicide. His clinical depression was cited as a factor. Today Livermore is regarded by many professional traders to be the greatest trader in history."
He had good rules and obviously enjoyed tremendous success. When he'd blow an account, it was often because he admittedly ignored his own rules. He apparently also suffered from clinical depression. A lot of people with depression in combination with making a bad mistake or having bad luck, end their lives. The chemical imbalance pushes them to a place most of us will never know, let alone understand. However, there are a lot of positive things that can be learned from Jesse Livermore. Obviously, no one can conclude that trading his rules leads to suicide.