Got it... http://jesselivermore.com/pics/pics_pg3.html from http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...page=6&highlight=livermore photo&pagenumber=5
Who are Baruch and Cutten? Never heard of the latter. I think Livermore's suicide is part of his personal life, he suffered from depression and that doesn't take away anything from his amazing success. A lot of great men committed suicide, it takes guts to take your own life.
What counts was his own feelings http://www.lambertganneducators.com/newsletters/jesselivermore.php "my life has been a failure". he must also have suffered from the public attitude after that: "Unable to accumulate money at the rate he previously did, Livermore decided to sell his trading secrets in the form of a book. How to Trade Stocks was published in 1940 in two versions - a leather-bound edition, and an 'any man's' edition. The book failed to capture the trading public's hearts and minds."
Puffy, I think it's hyperbole that he was up 300. Prob more like a hundo and that was before he covered (at higher prices). He didn't die broke but was in declining health.
Livermore was a pioneer in TA. He was creative, mathematical, and for the most disciplined. He understood how to run trading as a business. I believe that a lot of Wm. O'Neil's work is derived from J. L. the greatest speculator ever.
Arthur Cutten was known during his lifetime as the greatest grain speculator in America, particularly in wheat. (Made a lot of money in stocks, too.) He was a self-made man like Livermore. Cutten appeared in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator under the pseudonym Stratton.
Livermore was the greatest trader of all time becuase he traded like Ali fought. He needed to push it to the extreme to find out just how hard he could go and how good he really was. Even if it meant self destruction. Like the skydiver that increasingly engages in more dangerous jumps. The fact that he came back so many times, doesn't make him less great it makes him even greater. It tells us that he wasn't trading scarred, and believed that he could comeback from any situation. He took a seat at the biggest roulette table on earth and placed $100 million on zero, just to know what it feels like. When you have nothing, you only think about what you can gain from a situation. When you have everything, you only think about what you can lose from it. Even when he had a fortune, he continued to push it to the limit. That takes massive balls. He could have diversified, traded conservative, and lived like a miser, but would we be talking about him today if he did. No. His tragic personal life and final demise shouldn't detract from the incredable ability he possessed. Was Elvis any less great because he self destructed. No Without darkness there is no light. Livermore's story is a modern fable about a man destroyed by the thing he loved most. An increable story about an incredible life. Runningbear
I respect you POV but disagree most adamently. By your same reasoning Neiderhoffer is a great trader also. To make and then lose large amounts of money doesn't take skill. It takes a lot of leverage and a little bit of luck. I would have infinitely more respect for a trader who made $$ and then kept it - whether that meant diversification, getting conservative, or what have you. Quite a few of these exist - Soros, Rogers, to Cohen to name a few. And someone with a messed up family life really doesn't appreciate what is important in life. That being said, I enjoy Jesse's story as much as anyone ... but certainly wouldn't emulate him.