How to Trade In Stocks

I have to strongly disagree with the 1 star reviews on this book. Despite reading all the negative reviews based on Smitten's shameless self promotion of his website, I bought the book anyway and am quite glad I did. While I do agree 100% that Smitten's offering of some nonsensical JL stock trading computer program is an insult to the late and great Livermore himself, the promotion of this system is limited to maybe 3 pages total, in the entire book. WHO CARES. Yes the author is a fool to think that anyone with half a brain would buy into that crap, especially when it stands for a concept that JL spent his life decrying - not doing the work yourself and essentially living on a form of "tips". However, Smitten does happen to put together a fantastic tribute to such an incredible figure (With the obvious exception of the promotion noted above). The anecdotes about Livermore's family life were useful and engaging for someone who appreciates history and learning about the man behind the legend. The deck of photos included in the book were such a treat! Pictures were annotated and made the book come to life. When you buy this book, you are getting the original "How to Trade in Stocks" by JL, as well as commentary by the author, and a limited bio of JL. Of course a serious collector has read, or should absolutely read the following about JL: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: With New Commentary and Insights on the Life and Times of Jesse Livermore (Annotated Edition) (I read original and bought this to read and to add to my collection. I skimmed commentary and that alone makes it worth price of book) Jesse Livermore - Boy Plunger: The Man Who Sold America Short in 1929 (Bought, skimmed through and this is another must have for a collector, I will review in full after I get through it) Jesse Livermore's Methods of Trading in Stocks (Read this several times and it is an excellent summary of JL's trading methodology, get the audiobook too, very very cheap!) Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader (I include this because I just bought it as it is recognized as being the most complete bio of JL. A must if you are a collector, but this is not so much of an investing book, it is more of a historical examination of JL's life, which is certainly appealing to me) In closing, a summary of positives and negatives about the book: Pros: -An intact version of the original "How To Trade in Stocks" by JL including his "Market Key" stock tracking system, reproduced in color in back of book -Pictures of JL and family in middle of book -Anecdotes of JL's life surrounding trading methodology to further demonstrate, illustrate and support different aspects of said methodology -Commentary on methodology which served to reinforce points, produce up to date applications and examples, and support learning points through repetition. Cons: -Advertisement for some ridiculous stock trading software subscription, which is indeed an insult to the memory of JL and everything he stood for. The author made a grave error in attempting to profit off the reputation of JL through a trading system. Shame on him for that. However, his contribution to the memory and methodology of JL in this book as well as his well regarded bio of JL certainly make up for his absurd slip up with the subscription software... Highly recommended as an investing book AND collectors item, especially at such a good price.

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's 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. Don't 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. And the infomercial other reviewers have mentioned is only a short 6 pages at the back of the book. I've also read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Wiley Investment Classics) 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. Both highly recommended. 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 at TheTradingTipster.com

This book contains the actual book published by the legendary trader Jesse Livermore. Whom many consider the greatest stock trader ever. He made $3 million in one day in 1907 and over $100 million during the 1929 crash when everyone else was wiped out. I have learned a tremendous amount about stock trading from studying this man. I have made about $10,000 in my accounts through following his principles. At the end of this book it contains the Livermore Market Key and show the actual charts Livermore used to trade stocks by putting prices in different columns and designating each days movement as a down trend or uptrend, it is different than anything else I have ever seen. I highly recommend buying this book, here are some of the key principles you will learn: Do not buy your whole position at one time. If you want to buy 1000 shares buy 200-200-200 then 400. Only buy if the stock price goes up. Do not try to predict the market. let the market tell you what to do by its volume and trend. Follow the path of least resistance. Don't fight the tape. Buy into strength, not weakness. Bargains are bargains for a reason. Buy the leaders in the best performing industry. There is nothing new in Wall Street what has happened before will happen again. It is up to you to learn the pattern.

In this book you can learn the principles of Jesse Livermore. It can be applied in these days without any problem

As a few other readers have mentioned, this book is deceptively brilliant. It appears to be a small and simple trading book, but the quotes and trading strategies included from Livermore are amazing. I read it every six months and always learn something new. Livermore, as it turns out, is not a great writer, but his biographer, Richard Smitten, did an excellent job of including details and quotes of the ways Livermore traded. Livermore never revealed his secret trading methods (few understood his "market key" included in the back of the book), but he left a lot of hints. This book provides more clues of how to trade successfully if you are willing to take the time to study, and most people won't. As for me, I learned more from this book than even Reminisces of a Stock Operator. I developed my trading strategies based on what I learned from Livermore. Bottom line: This book is one of the best, and few traders will ever realize it.

Excelente

The original book by Jesse Livermore was splendid, and gave great insight and information on how to approach stock speculation. That being said: The first thing you should do when getting this book is rip out all the parts that are not part of the original book. All smitten does is shamelessly promote his website/business and paraphrase what is already written, and he does so in a very disorganized way. He adds no value to the original book, and then complies a bunch of pictures and information about his life to throw in for no reason whatsoever. These pictures with captions were thrown in, in the middle of a chapter, and actually interrupted a sentence/thought. In addition to these short comings, Smitten puts his self serving part of the book before J.L's market key, which serves the purpose of essentially forcing you to read through it to get to the part that is of more importance... The market key section is somewhere that I think a good writer actually could have added to Livermore's original writing and Smitten did nothing here. There could have been examples, and step by step examples to help walk you through the method, but it is presented in it's original form. With no additional clarification. All in all Jesse Livermore is an amazing speculator and lived a phenomenal story for us all to read and learn from, but Smitten is a worthless, self-serving "writer" and had no business attaching his name to this work. I will never buy another book or product that has his name attached to it.

A must read for investors and speculators.

Bien

This is not the complete book. Chapter 8-12 is missing. I bought this as I wanted a hard copy of the digital book but this is not complete

This book is made from cheap material , its a pretty bad print in my opinion and its put quick together .. It's not what I was expecting at all .

I'm just learning to trade and this book is a gem. I'll need to read the last chapter again probably a few times and probably will need the physical copy to see the charts which were not visible enough but definitely a good book for initially learning trading.

I’ve read this book numerous times and its really great. The book however lacks references explaining where the author (Richard Smitten) got his information except a quick thanks to Paul and Patricia Livermore in the forward. The book also lacks any quick autobiography explaining who the author is. Sometimes I’m left wondering if the content in the center of the book actually has real quotes by Livermore or if its made up. If he got this information from word of mouth by Patricia or Paul Livermore it should be cited as such, if the qoutes came from Livermore's surviving journals owned by the family it should be credited, if it came from a radio or TV broadcast, or newspaper it should be referenced.