I was just wondering... Livermore is revered as one of the all time greats right? But didn't he trade during a period when everything in the markets was corrupt? He made a lot and then he lost it all. I mean, once the market crashed and the SEC came and started regulating things, he couldn't make a dime and resulted to suicide? Now I have nothing against him or anything like that. I just want to start a discussion and get some people's thoughts on the topic.
This should be interesting. I still think he would have made big money. Most people don't know that he lost money in other things. If I understand right, he was a big time womanizer and had many women. None of his marriages worked. I don't think that he lost ALL his money in the market. Correct me if I am wrong.
He's vastly over-rated. He made money, he lost it, he made money again, he lost it again, and again and again etc. The italicized stuff in the "Reminiscences" book is good but it shouldn't be associated with Livermore.
Livermores rules indicate he was trading stocks being ramped by the pools - hence his problems after the 1934 SEC act. Also he was trading with 10:1 leverage in stocks that would be ramped up - hence the dramatic comebacks with a small stake several hundred percent. Also it seems he could go short as easily as long.
from what I understand after reading the books, he committed suicide because the stock market didn't present a challenge to him anymore. he made it and lost it several times, but i thought in the end that he had millions. also, I doubt that being broke would lead him to suicide, since he had been broke many times before. I think the book said that he always had very dark moods, even early on. I think that he made alot of money because he pyramided when he was right.
Dang it, I had just got my hands on the book.... now I just kinda spoiled it by reading this. Maybe someone should write *Spoilers of Book* or something on here. I thought he was going to dominate the market by working hard and fail a few more times but come out on top by keeping on trying. Now I know he fails Owell, I'll still read it though, I'm only on chapter 8.
You have no idea what you are talking about. I think you need to read the book. He committed suicide because he had brain cancer and he regrets a lot of his decisions he made in life choices not his trading. He picked the wrong women and place priority on his trading career over family. He lost it all at least twice and made it all back and then some. This is mentioned and detailed in his book.
I read a part of a daytrading book yesterday about his ventures. It seemed to me that his success was because as a kid, his job was writing prices on a blackboard for a brokerage firm (dont remember the one). He did that so long that he was able to make good predictions based on price movement. The book claimed he was the first successful trader to use technical analysis. Some say he invented it. He went to bucket shops and made so much that he began getting banned and had to use false names. He lost four seperate fortunes if I recall correctly. Some people blamed him for the '29 crash and threatened his life to the point where he had to hire bodyguards. Mostly because he made millions from the crash. The book never detailed how he lost each of his fortunes, although many signs indicate that he had very poor money management. If I recall right, he declared bankruptcy after losing his third fortune, and he was in debt about $2mil after his final loss. I believe he was only able to pay back about $800k, then committed suicide.
If you want to learn more about Jesse Livermore <marquee><img src=http://www.google.com/images/logo_sm.gif></marquee> him! On this thread you'll get a lot of uninformed opinions. But maybe this is what you're looking for.