Yes because simply of the fact that there is no other book like it and the fact that fully confirms that speculation psychology has been around for ages and has not changed at all. Any of us can publish some nonsense reiterating the same old rules and pointing out some market basics, charts, technicals. That does not get anyone anywhere. RSO is not selling anything, it is a real life journalist account of a real life speculator. There is no marketing, no BS, no lame overused trading system that hasnt worked in ages. It just shares experience that if absorbed properly can save thousands to some. Name one book you feel is better than Livermore's accounts.
You're kidding right? This guy could not make money in a down market if his life depended on it. Only buying stocks and putting stops is a monkey strategy. What would happen if on average 8 out of 10 stocks did not go his way because of a bear market. Commish and tiny losses would have eaten his margin up and he would have been back to dancing in no time. You know, just like the self made millionaires of 2000 that ended up having to go to low end jobs once the great bull was over. Darvas was not a trader but an investor. Livermore began as a scalper and a tape reader, he was essentially as much as a NYSE day trader as many of us are today. This is besides the fact that the book is half fiction and greatly exaggerated. Kinda explains why Darvas needs the "I made 2 mil" marketing pitch. Great example why RSO is above the rest, no bullshit claims, no boasting of making millions or being a super trader that can never lose, no lame ass monkey strategy that only works in bull markets. Livermore spends more time talking about his failures & setbacks and even faults while actually succeding (like his attempts to transition toward swing trading). I like some other trading/investing books, for example, I like O'Neil's writings. But what I noticed is that RSO is the only book that is a journalistic account instead of a self written marketing pitch. Livermore is just sharing his experience instead of trying to sell you some advice of how to make money in the stock market. No book can ever do that, if there was some secret way to just make money from reading a book, who the f*ck would be dumb enough to sell it? Come on, these are basics.
Right before the October 24, 1907 crash Livermore made his first $1M in a single day shorting a market that was going up fast. The day after the crash he covered his position and made another fortune going long. In the 6 months leading up to the 1929 crash he was building up a large short position that again resulted in a fortune on October 29 when the market sold off 11.7% in a single day: From a site describing the crash: 'After the October 29, 1929 crash, low stock valuations and seemingly sound economic fundamentals led several well-known investors to accumulate shares. Jesse Livermore, who in the summer of 1929 had sold short, publicly stated in November of that year that the decline had run its course and that he expected the market to recoup from its October setback. "To my mind this situation should go no further." ' He was present at the two greatest short opportunities of his life and he traded both long and short positions at a time that was more difficult and expensive to trade than it is today (IMHO). His personal life was a mess, he had poor taste in friends and women. Poor judgement in his business dealings. However, in his trading prime he was the best there was.... I like his books, but not sure I would call them the best trading books around. Easily worth a read. Similar to PitBull, not a lot of 'how to information' but a great story... ramora
in his wonderful book Wall Street Ventures and Adventures. He devotes almost a chapter about Livermore. The book is not available at amazon.com, but at traderpress: http://www.traderspress.org/detail.asp?product_id=174 On page 254 from this booK: Livermore says to Wycokff in 1910: I wait until conditions prove that I am right or until my intuition tells me I am wrong. Very often I'm wrong. When that happens I change my position by getting out altogether or sometimes I reverse and take the other side of the market. My judgement gets me in, but my intuition gets me out.... I never go into a trade unless I see at least ten points profit... ON page 256, Livermore says to Wycokff: I make it a practice to locate the danger point and then buy or sell as close to it as I can. If the danger materializes, I take my loss and close the trade, especially when I am short.... It's great book. Wyckoff writes it like a diary year by year from 1888 to 1928. I think he died in 1935 or so. On page 170 , about tape reader: Such a trader might be long of a stock one moment, then neutral, then short. Often (tape reader) he would be out of the market for hours or days, watching every possible turn, detecting what appeared to be opportunities, only to see them fade out, but taking.... This ideal tape operator should have no hopes or fears. He must play the game without sign or nerves or mental strain; look upon profits or loses with equal equanimity. He must develop the kind of intuition that becomes a sixth sense in trading... Such an operator... was generally evolved from a series of failures over many months or years; his education could be completed only through a long series of transactions, spread over long periods, which would perfect his operating personality into one that could play the game cold. He must have persistence to carry him through adverse times without discouragement, until his expertness and self-confidence match that of the surgeon who performs many operations, losing some patient but never losing his nerve. Such a man, with such a character and with that experience, should be a success at reading the tape.... On page 171 and 172: In many offices, active traders, more or less expert, scanned every transaction that appeared the tape, evidently trying to scent out coming moves. They ignored statistics or earnings or such information, but they had great respect for previous swings, high and low prices, and other technical indications. Many of these traders siting on high stools by the tickers had no other vocation; they devoted their entire time to this business of trading in stocks. as they become more expert, they seemed to operate a good deal on intuition... They were among the best of my clients because they were always trading. They made far more money out of the market than the average customer.... END of the writings from that great book. Hope, you enjoyed reading this post.