Who was Jessie Livermore?

Jessie Livermore was considered to be the greatest stock trader who ever lived. He acquired many vast fortunes in his lifetime through the art of stock market trading.

After the crash of 1907 Livermore had $3 million dollars in the markets and was living the high life. This is also when he began to be recognized as a famous trader.

He lost that but came back. By the end of the crash of 1929 he had an even greater fortune of $100 million dollars. This would have made him a billionaire by today’s standards.

Jessie Livermore was often called the “the great bear of wall street” because of his ability to make money by shorting during a bears market.

Even though he was a bear that did not limited to making money only in bears markets. He adopted a buy and hold strategy when the markets were bullish and a of sell and hold strategy during a downward market.

There are those who will argue that he is not such a great trader because although he made vast fortunes throughout his lifetime he also lost them all. Livermore died by suicide a broke man, a sad ending to a great trader.

There is much that can be learned by him for anyone who is interested in investing, or life for that matter. He only lost money when he did not follow his own rules. Every time he exited the market based on emotions it turned out against him.

Richard Smitten is an author who has written an autobiography about the life of this man called “Jessie Livermore world’s Greatest Stock Trader”. It is a very great book; I frankly could not put it down when I first read it.
Without a doubt I would recommend reading this book at least once for everyone interested in the investment world. It is very cheap, you should be able to find it for under $20, and it can teach you many great lessens about life.