How To Trade in Stocks Book Review

How to trade in stocks was the only book ever written by Jessie Livermore the greatest trader who ever lived. This book does have some commentary by Richard Smitten, so it is not all Livermore’s work, but it is well worth the read.

In his live his work has always been trading in the stock market. He never did anything else, as far as making a living goes. This book is the only one where he focuses on the lessons he learned from over 40 years of his successful trading experience.

Just because of that it was on the “must reads” list for me. After having just finished the book two days ago, I have to say it was everything I was hoping for.

He outlines all the criteria that he considered was important when picking a stock.

1. The Trend

2. Pivot Points

3. Sister Stocks

4. Money Management

And Emotional Control.

All of these factors played a huge role in his trading system and are just as relevant today as they were when he was alive.

There are a number of factors in the book that go against the traditional buy low and sell high mentality. For instance he would only add onto a position after the stock had already started to head up.

His way of thinking was that if you buy a stock and it starts to head up it has just been confirmed that you where right, so adding onto a position can be a great idea. If however you buy a stock and it goes down it has just been confirmed that you were wrong, so it is time to exit out of the position.

Such thinking was revolutionary for his time and lead him to making over $100,000,000 in the stock market. I would have to say How to Trade In Stocks was my favorite stock market book so far, so if you want to get a handle on trading it is a great book to check out.