The Hindu Business Line : Investment Nuggets

Known as the “great bear of Wall Street”, Jesse Livermore is a renowned stock trader. His trading lessons, triumphs and disasters are probably the most fascinating of any of Wall Street’s stories. He made his trading techniques public in 1923 through the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Even today, many stock and commodity traders owe a lot to Jesse for sharing his experiences. Livermore has also lost his entire fortune on more than one occasion, when he ignored his trading rules.

“Every stock is like a human being: It has a personality, a distinctive personality. Aggressive, reserved, hyper, high-strung, volatile, boring, direct, logical, predictable, unpredictable. I often studied stocks like I would study people; after a while their reactions to certain circumstances become more predictable.”

“The game of speculation is the most uniformly fascinating game in the world. But it is not a game for the stupid, the mentally lazy, the man of inferior emotional balance, or for the get-rich-quick adventurer. They will die poor.”

“...the fruits of your success will be in direct ratio to the honesty and sincerity of your own effort in keeping your own records, doing your own thinking, and reaching your own conclusions.”

“There is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again.”

“There are times when money can be made investing and speculating in stocks, but money cannot consistently be made trading every day or every week during the year. Only the foolhardy will try it. It just is not in the cards and cannot be done.”

“The point is not so much to buy as cheap as possible or go short at top price, but to buy or sell at the right time.”

“I am tired of hearing the public and papers blame Wall Street for parting fools from their money... It’s the successful businessman who is the biggest sucker of the lot. He has made a fortune in his own line. How? By being on the job for years; by learning all there was to know about it; by taking reasonable chances; by utilising his knowledge and experience to anticipate probabilities. He wants to increase that fortune at a faster rate and with less effort.”

“It took me five years to learn to play the game intelligently enough to make big money when I was right.”

“Speculation is far too exciting. Most people who speculate hound the brokerage offices... the ticker is always on their minds. They are so engrossed with the minor ups and downs, they miss the big movements.”

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