Jesse Livermore lived during the Great Depression and was known as "The Boy Plunger" for taking on large positions. He had been trading stocks since he was 15 and was regarded as one of the best speculators of his time. He made and lost millions, and this was back when a million was a lot of money. If Livermore was alive today he would be one of the most sophisticated traders around.
I've read this book eight times and every time I read it, I pick up something new. It is so easy to read it feels as if the author is talking to you one on one. In the book he reveals his personal rules of trading, his money management procedures, his entry and exit strategies, and his rules for emotional discipline.
A lot of what he says is common sense. At least it seems that way when he explains it but it goes against what the Wall Street machine tells us. For example, Livermore stresses that you should "never average down. Why add to a trade you are already losing money on?" He also describes the foibles of buy and hold. Many people of his time bought the blue chips of the day the railroads, steamship companies, buggy whip companies, and others who are no longer around. "Life is change" he reasons, "your clothes change, your kids change, you change lovers. So why cannot the reason you buy a stock change?"
Some of his rules include:
Always trade with the trend, along the line of least resistance.
Make sure all the factors are in your favor before you make a trade. (The factors are detailed in the book)
Stay with the leading stocks of the day
Group action is a key to timing Stocks do not move alone.
Do not buy your entire position at once.
Always have a stop before you get in a trade. (Livermore used 10%)
Never takes tips from anyone
Never argue with the tape.
You should not be in the market all the time.
One of the things that helped me was that after a large successful trade, the author recommends taking half the profit out of the market. Put it away somewhere safe.
Even though the author says he never used charts, it seems that he was a technical, trend follower by today's definitions. He got in on what he called Pivotal and Continuation Points which he describes in Chapter 5.
Even though most of the book is put together by Smitten, it is still an enjoyable read for someone looking to put together a trading strategy and system. Someone who is new to the stock market will find a plethora of beneficial information. I've also read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator which is the story of a trader based on Livermore's life and Smitten's Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader and learned a lot from each of those as well.
I hope this review helps you in your decision to buy this book or not. I find that it is a mandatory read for all investors and traders. It has definitely helped me to improve my stock trading. If you want to read more of my reviews of stock trading and investment books, you can get them our website listed below.
How To Trade In Stocks
Trading is usually simple but most of the people make it a very complex game. It depends how you approach it whether for quick riches or stable income every month. Trading wants you to have a positive and a neutral mind. Successful traders follow rules all the time and earn their living trading just two hours a day. Many failed traders already develop their mind of particular direction. Neutrality itself requires that there is no direction of the market. Whenever there is a setup formed according to the given rules, one should act quickly without any confusion and hesitation. What actually happens that failed traders hesitate at the time of signal but execute trade as per their emotions. Here comes the discipline.
Successful trading in futures, emini, stocks, options, forex or any market requires sound strategies and discipline. Discipline has more weight than strategies. Learning the great and profitable strategies will not make you successful unless you have conviction to follow rules religiously. A good strategy can be applied to stock trading, currency trading and emini futures because rules are universal. Technical analysis and price action cover every market. There are some analysts in the market who teach that rules apply to one market only and at particular time. Objective analysis covers every market exhibiting number of opportunities in a week for daytrading as well as swing trading. If you have discipline to limit your risk effectively you can do daytrading or swing trading in any trading instrument. It means if you learn rules of trading you have great exposure to trading in every time frame whether it is emini, dow futures, S&P 500, commodity trading, futures trading, options and stocks. Stock trading itself presents multiple opportunities because there are hundreds of stocks in stock market. Another considerable market is a currency market with great volatility. Currency trading usually called forex trading offers huge potential of income if you are equipped with best risk management strategy. Many large brokers are now offering currency trading requiring very low margin. The important point is how you discipline yourself and control your emotions.
Nobody can deny the importance of stop-loss. People who are afraid of taking small loss incur a big loss and are usually wiped out in just few days. Discipline of taking loss will keep you in the trading game forever if you have profitable strategy. Nobody in this world can win every trade. Some traders are very disappointed after taking loss. They lose control and trade immediately in the hope that they will recover loss quickly. It's a huge blunder. You should come back with fresh mind after spending considerable time away from your computer after making a losing trade.
Many new traders try to trade live immediately after they have learned how to trade and it is a huge mistake because they are playing with their real money. Paper trading with discipline could give substantial amount of confidence over a period of few months. What differentiates successful traders from irresponsible traders is quick decision at right time.
Both Ameen Kamadia & Shahbaz Baig are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Ameen Kamadia has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Buyers Guide, Foreclosure Help and Home. Ameen Kamadia is an editor at The Trading Tipster.com. For more book reviews of stock investment books, free trading education and for our please v. Ameen Kamadia's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.
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