Contents of this article
Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader tells the story of one of the greatest stock traders in the world – Jesse Livermore. The book has given stock market investors invaluable lessons, all distilled from the costly experience of Jesse Livermore’s own career. Mark Mobius – Executive Chairman of Templeton Asset Management – once said of the book: “The rise and fall of the great speculator and his family is a gripping story. The fact that it is built on interviews with surviving members of the Livermore family and with people who witnessed the events of his life makes it extremely compelling. A wonderful piece of work.”
Who Is the Author of Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader ?
Richard Smitten is a well-known writer as well as a successful investor in Florida, USA, and vice president of MTS International. After graduating in English from the University of Western Ontario, he went through many ups and downs in his career. From the age of 13, he heard his father talk a great deal about a famous stock operator of the day, Jesse Livermore. Fascinated, he set out to learn more about the man. Some 40 years later, a chance encounter gave him the opportunity to study Jesse Livermore’s life closely for a whole year.
The author also searched for everything about Jesse Livermore in the books Livermore himself had written. But in the end he realized there was far more to the story than the books told. So he spent another 2 years researching Livermore in greater depth through his relatives and friends. Truly, the author’s life became bound up with Jesse Livermore’s.
What Is Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader About?
The book gives a full and detailed biography of Jesse Livermore (1877–1940), a brilliant investor and an honest trader. It covers all the ups and downs he went through during his career in the stock market, as well as much that was new about his successful stock trading methods and techniques. Although these techniques have changed a good deal to suit today’s market, their original value remains intact.
Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader has 15 chapters, all following the course of Jesse Livermore’s life: from a boy working on his father’s farm, to running away to Boston with just USD 5 in his pocket, to becoming a quotation-board boy at a small brokerage. Thanks to his natural intelligence and endless eagerness to learn, he built up a wealth of experience. As a result, he became a successful speculator many times over, failing, succeeding and failing again. In the end, his life ended in a tragic death.
Some lessons from the book:
- Human nature never changes, and neither does the stock market. In other words, the market itself never changes; it is human emotion that drives and creates market volatility.
- Achieving material goals and career ambitions does not guarantee happiness in life. Material wealth and spiritual fulfilment do not balance each other out on their own.
- It is strong willpower, not intellect, that lets us reach our goals. Only with a determination to work hard and patience in your work can you achieve what once seemed impossible.
- Great ideas, wealth and advances in science, technology, politics and medicine are created by individuals, not by the collective.
In writing about Jesse Livermore in this book, the author highlights 3 principles every speculator in financial markets must always remember:
- Time management: identify the right moment to enter and to exit a trade.
- Money management: limit losses and never allow yourself to lose the original capital you invested.
- Emotional control: to succeed in stock investing, you first need a detailed, clear strategy and the persistence to see your stock through to the end. One of the most important things you must hold on to is a speculator’s state of mind.
Our Thoughts on Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader
Jesse Livermore’s life, full of highs and lows, is a valuable lesson for all investors in the stock market in particular and financial markets in general. Especially in today’s volatile economy, the book’s lessons shine once again. As investors, we must always remember that without training, firm rules and a concrete strategy, it is very easy to fall into the market’s psychological traps. You can earn big profits through patient waiting, not just through intelligence. The book truthfully reflects the hidden sides of an investor in the stock market. It also helps investors anticipate, to some degree, the risks that may arise and how best to handle them. Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader is a great book, well worth reading. It suits every investor and every market.
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