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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
inspiring
informative
slow-paced
An excellent book recounting the stories and lessons of a Stock Operator.
I quite enjoyed this book as it's an intoxicating mix of personal story within the trading world as well as lessons and learnings
Takeaways
Be right and sit tight, make the correct move and then have the conviction to sit with your decision
Commodities of the same group usually rise together so you can follow laggards (Unless there's a specific reason)
Inside selling - bearish, inside selling bullish
There's also a lot about market manipulation, media manipulation and insider trading which is very fascinating especially how it relates to the crypto market.
I quite enjoyed this book as it's an intoxicating mix of personal story within the trading world as well as lessons and learnings
Takeaways
Be right and sit tight, make the correct move and then have the conviction to sit with your decision
Commodities of the same group usually rise together so you can follow laggards (Unless there's a specific reason)
Inside selling - bearish, inside selling bullish
There's also a lot about market manipulation, media manipulation and insider trading which is very fascinating especially how it relates to the crypto market.
informative
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
A colorful and compelling read that suffers from just a few dry patches. It is almost impossible to believe that this book was written more than 90 years ago.
informative
tense
slow-paced
Read this book based on a recommendation from a friend with the caveat that it’s a bit dry but a great historical view with a lot of insight on how trading actually works. The recommendation was spot on.
This book is a classic but I found it a struggle to read, I do think it was worth it though.
This book is a classic but I found it a struggle to read, I do think it was worth it though.
funny
informative
fast-paced
There are two major schools of thought for understanding markets: value and technical analysis. Value investors look to stock fundamentals to make investment decisions whereas technical analysis investors use price action. This book is the Bible for technical analysis, laying down the principles of the school in a beautifully written, non technical, narrative.
I just finished my second reading of this easy to read classic and I’ve found more to love about. I am of the technical analysis persuasion, so I am definitely biased toward the content within, but wasn’t completely convinced of this school upon my first read, and in reality, many investors steal from both schools to build their speculation method, so there’s something for everyone here.
The story is told from the perspective of a character based on Jesse Livermore, considered by many to be the best trader ever. The main wisdom, big gems, imparted through the various tales of his trading can be easily understood by beginners to stock trading, while a careful reading or re-reading by an experienced trader can yield the finer gems.
The book reads like a novel, and contains plenty of clever phrasings to inspire, some of which have become market adages. A must read for any trader.
The writing throughout is not dry, technical, market teachings:
“He'd say good morning as though he had discovered the morning's goodness after ten years of searching for it with a microscope and was making you a present of the discovery as well as of the sky, the sun and the firm's bank roll.”
Some gem’s:
“The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses in Wall Street even among the professionals, who feel that they must take home some money every day, as though they were working for regular wages.”
“They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.”
“But not even a world war can keep the stock market from being a bull market when conditions are bullish, or a bear market when conditions are bearish. And all a man needs to know to make money is to appraise conditions.”
“the average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think. It is too much bother to have to count the money that he picks up from the ground.”
A very timely re-read for me, as we go through a correction and potentially a recession (Apr 22).
I just finished my second reading of this easy to read classic and I’ve found more to love about. I am of the technical analysis persuasion, so I am definitely biased toward the content within, but wasn’t completely convinced of this school upon my first read, and in reality, many investors steal from both schools to build their speculation method, so there’s something for everyone here.
The story is told from the perspective of a character based on Jesse Livermore, considered by many to be the best trader ever. The main wisdom, big gems, imparted through the various tales of his trading can be easily understood by beginners to stock trading, while a careful reading or re-reading by an experienced trader can yield the finer gems.
The book reads like a novel, and contains plenty of clever phrasings to inspire, some of which have become market adages. A must read for any trader.
The writing throughout is not dry, technical, market teachings:
“He'd say good morning as though he had discovered the morning's goodness after ten years of searching for it with a microscope and was making you a present of the discovery as well as of the sky, the sun and the firm's bank roll.”
Some gem’s:
“The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses in Wall Street even among the professionals, who feel that they must take home some money every day, as though they were working for regular wages.”
“They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.”
“But not even a world war can keep the stock market from being a bull market when conditions are bullish, or a bear market when conditions are bearish. And all a man needs to know to make money is to appraise conditions.”
“the average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think. It is too much bother to have to count the money that he picks up from the ground.”
A very timely re-read for me, as we go through a correction and potentially a recession (Apr 22).
It's a bit hard to read, lots of rare words, slang, idioms.
Quite interesting to read, reveals the veil a little stock market.
"
It looked to me as though I was in Dutch with destiny.
_____
"Sure you did. And it was a Jim Hickey of a tip too. I made sixty thousand dollars."
"
------------------
"
Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance.
and the only thing to do when a man is wrong is to be right by ceasing to be wrong.
And when the market goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much bigger loss, and hope that his profit may become a big profit. It is absolutely wrong to gamble in stocks the way the average man does.
I am fairly immune from the commoner speculative ailments, such as greed and fear and hope.
It seems incredible that knowing the game as well as I did and with an experience of twelve or fourteen years of speculating in stocks and commodities I did precisely the wrong thing. The cotton showed me a loss and I kept it. The wheat showed me a profit and I sold it out. It was an utterly foolish play, but all I can say in extenuation is that it wasn't really my deal, but Thomas'. Of all speculative blunders there are few greater than trying to average a losing game. My cotton deal proved it to the hilt a little later. Always sell what shows you a loss and keep what shows you a profit. That was so obviously the wise thing to do and was so well known to me that even now I marvel at myself for doing the reverse.
He had slathers of money and therefore could not be suspected of sordid motives. These things, together with his education and social training, made it easy for him to be not only polite but friendly, and not only friendly but helpful.
And the reason they thought it was too high was that it never before had sold so high; and that made it too high to buy; and if it was too high to buy it was just right to sell. That sounds pretty modern, doesn't it? They were thinking of the price, and the Commodore was thinking of the value! And so, for years afterwards, old-timers tell me that people used to say, "He went short of Harlem!" whenever they wished to describe abject poverty.
When the stock you are manipulating doesn't act as it should, quit. Don't argue with the tape. Do not seek to lure the profit back. Quit while the quitting is good and cheap.
The top is never in sight when the vision is vitiated by hope.
In a bull market and particularly in booms the public at first makes money which it later loses simply by overstaying the bull market. This talk of "bear raids" helps them to overstay. The public should beware of explanations that explain only what unnamed insiders wish the public to believe.
"
Quite interesting to read, reveals the veil a little stock market.
"
It looked to me as though I was in Dutch with destiny.
_____
"Sure you did. And it was a Jim Hickey of a tip too. I made sixty thousand dollars."
"
------------------
"
Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance.
and the only thing to do when a man is wrong is to be right by ceasing to be wrong.
And when the market goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much bigger loss, and hope that his profit may become a big profit. It is absolutely wrong to gamble in stocks the way the average man does.
I am fairly immune from the commoner speculative ailments, such as greed and fear and hope.
It seems incredible that knowing the game as well as I did and with an experience of twelve or fourteen years of speculating in stocks and commodities I did precisely the wrong thing. The cotton showed me a loss and I kept it. The wheat showed me a profit and I sold it out. It was an utterly foolish play, but all I can say in extenuation is that it wasn't really my deal, but Thomas'. Of all speculative blunders there are few greater than trying to average a losing game. My cotton deal proved it to the hilt a little later. Always sell what shows you a loss and keep what shows you a profit. That was so obviously the wise thing to do and was so well known to me that even now I marvel at myself for doing the reverse.
He had slathers of money and therefore could not be suspected of sordid motives. These things, together with his education and social training, made it easy for him to be not only polite but friendly, and not only friendly but helpful.
And the reason they thought it was too high was that it never before had sold so high; and that made it too high to buy; and if it was too high to buy it was just right to sell. That sounds pretty modern, doesn't it? They were thinking of the price, and the Commodore was thinking of the value! And so, for years afterwards, old-timers tell me that people used to say, "He went short of Harlem!" whenever they wished to describe abject poverty.
When the stock you are manipulating doesn't act as it should, quit. Don't argue with the tape. Do not seek to lure the profit back. Quit while the quitting is good and cheap.
The top is never in sight when the vision is vitiated by hope.
In a bull market and particularly in booms the public at first makes money which it later loses simply by overstaying the bull market. This talk of "bear raids" helps them to overstay. The public should beware of explanations that explain only what unnamed insiders wish the public to believe.
"