The Greatest Trades of All Time: Top Traders Making Big Profits from the Crash of 1929 to Today

CHAPTER 5

Jesse Livermore: Legendary Speculator

Any investor or trader today instantly recognizes the name Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest traders to ever live. Even 70 years after his tragic death, his trading style and opinions on the markets live on.

Livermore traded through two major stock market crashes (1907 and 1929) and profited frequently throughout his career as a trader while enjoying a somewhat lavish lifestyle. He also happened to take great losses often. Both of these things added to his discipline in becoming a better trader.

LIVERMORE'S HISTORY

Born in the small town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in July 1877, Jesse Livermore grew up poor on his father's farm. From an early age, as is usually common with those growing up on a farm, he worked long hours and did hard, physical labor. He was frail, and work was not easy for him as a child.

Livermore was said to not have enjoyed his childhood and was better with numbers than he was with physical labor. In 1891, with the blessing of his mother, he set out for Boston at the age of 15 and found a job at a Paine Webber office. He began work posting quotes on the “big board” where quotes were gathered.

The stock market that we know today was a lot different back in the late 1890s. Telephones had only recently been invented and were not widely used across the country. Telegraph wires remained a dominating force for the financial industry as stock quotes were tapped across the country. Another important part of the ...