Jesse Livermore Quotes

A mindset that can be paranoid and optimistic at the same time is hard to maintain, because seeing things as black or white takes less effort than accepting nuance. But you need short-term paranoia to keep you alive long enough to exploit long-term optimism. Jesse Livermore figured this out the hard way.

There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.

The nature of the game as it is played is such that the public should realize that the truth cannot be told by the few who know.

A man cannot be convinced against his own convictions, but he can be talked into a state of uncertainty and indecision, which is even worse, for that means that he cannot trade with confidence and comfort.

If you have timed the movement correctly, your first commitment will show you a profit at the start.

The sucker has always tried to get something for nothing, and the appeal in all booms is always frankly to the gambling instinct aroused by cupidity and spurred by a pervasive prosperity. People who look for easy money invariably pay for the privilege of proving conclusively that it cannot be found on this sordid earth.

set your own rules and stick to them; never argue with the market; never make a play you can’t afford; never give way to irrational exuberance. Above all, don’t be a sucker.

It has always been my experience that I never benefited much from a move if I did not get in at somewhere near the beginning of that move.

Money in a broker’s account or in a bank account is not the same as if you feel it in your own fingers once in a while. Then it means something.

A stock operator has to fight a lot of expensive enemies within himself.

A man must know himself thoroughly if he is going to make a good job out of trading in the speculative markets. To know what I was capable of in the line of folly was a long educational step. I sometimes think that no price is too high for a speculator to pay to learn that which will keep him from getting the swelled head.

if you are successful, most people are envious and they covet your success

A man must believe in himself and his judgment if he expects to make a living at this game.

If a man didn't make mistakes he'd own the world in a month. But if he didn't profit by his mistakes he wouldn't own a blessed thing

if there was any easy money lying around, no one would be forcing it into your pocket.

No, sir, nobody can make big money on what someone else tells him to do.

investment books in the library. The best was How to Trade in Stocks, by Jesse Livermore.

To learn that a man can make foolish plays for no reason whatever was a valuable lesson. It cost me millions to learn that another dangerous enemy to a trader is his susceptibility to the urgings of a magnetic personality when plausibly expressed by a brilliant mind. It has always seemed to me, however, that I might have learned my lesson quite as well if the cost had been only one million. But Fate does not always let you fix the tuition fee. She delivers the educational wallop and presents her own bill, knowing you have to pay it, no matter what the amount may be.

Jesse Livermore, who declared in How to Trade in Stocks, “I absolutely believe that price movement patterns are being repeated. They are recurring patterns that appear over and over, with slight variations. This is because markets are driven by humans—and human nature never changes” (Greenville: Traders Press, 1991, 96).

There have been many times when I, like many other speculators, have not had the patience to await the sure thing. I wanted to have an interest at all times. You may say, “With all your experience, why did you allow yourself to do so?” The answer to that is that I am human and subject to human weakness. —Jesse Livermore, How to Trade in Stocks

All a person needs to do is observe what the market is telling him and evaluate it.

began. What beat me was not having brains enough to stick to my own game—that is, to play the market only when I was satisfied that precedents favored my play. There

Profits always take care of themselves but losses never do.

The speculator's chief enemies are always boring from within. It is inseparable from human nature to hope and to fear. In speculation when the market goes against you you hope that every day will be the last day and you lose more than you should had you not listened to hope to the same ally that is so potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big and little. 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.

We talked of many things, for he is a widely read man with an amazing grasp of many subjects and a remarkable gift for interesting generalization. The wisdom of his speech is impressive; and as for plausibility, he hasn't an equal. I have heard many people accuse Percy Thomas of many things, including insincerity, but I sometimes wonder if his remarkable plausibility does not come from the fact that he first convinces himself so thoroughly as to acquire thereby a greatly increased power to convince others.

If you have timed the movement correctly, your first commitment will show you a profit at the start. From then on, all that is required of you is to be alert, watching for the appearance of the danger signal to tell you to step aside and convert paper profits into real money.

I have been in the speculative game ever since I was fourteen. It is all I have ever done. I think I know what I am talking about. And the conclusion that I have reached after nearly thirty years of constant trading, both on a shoestring and with millions of dollars back of me, is this: A man may beat a stock or a group at a certain time, but no man living can beat the stock market! A man may make money out of individual deals in cotton or grain, but no man can beat the cotton market or the grain market. It's like the track. A man may beat a horse race, but he cannot beat horse racing.

All through time, people have basically acted and reacted the same way in the market as a result of greed, fear, ignorance, and hope. That is why the numerical formations and patterns recur on a constant basis. Over and over, with slight variations. Because markets are driven by humans and human nature never changes.

Old Baron Rothschild’s recipe for wealth winning applies with greater force than ever to speculation. Somebody asked him if making money in the Bourse was not a very difficult matter and he replied that, on the contrary, he thought that it was very easy… "I will tell you my secret if you wish. It is this: I never buy at the bottom and I always sell too soon.

These words [bullish, bearish] are not in my vocabulary because I believe they can create an emotional mindset of a specific market direction in a speculator’s mind.” — Jesse Livermore

never try to predict or anticipate. I only try to react to what the market is telling me by its behaviour. I believe there are no good stocks or bad stocks; there are only money making stocks. So there is no good direction to trade, short or long; there is only the moneymaking way to trade. Greed, fear, impatience, and hope will all fight for mental dominance over the speculator.” — Jesse Livermore

The market is not affected by what a million people think about the market, but it is immediately affected by their actual buying and selling or their failure to do either.

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He made $3 million in a single day, went bankrupt four times, and was blamed for the crash of 1929. Jesse Livermore tells how he did it. Considered to be one of the greatest traders of all time, stock market legend Jesse Livermore made and lost vast fortunes and lived a life that typified the highs and lows of the 1920s and 1930s. So influential was he that many credit him with having caused the crash of 1929. And while America sank into ten long years of the Great Depression, Livermore went short--and made $100 million. Written by Livermore in 1940, the last year of his life, "How to Trade in Stocks" distills the wisdom of his 40 years as a trader. It combines fascinating autobiographical and historical details with step-by-step guidance through the Livermore trading system. Investors learn his prescriptions for analyzing the leading sectors, understanding timing, money management, emotional control, and more.

Seasoned investors like Warren Buffett, Thomas Rowe Price Jr., John Neff, Jesse Livermore, Peter Lynch, and many more, practice this strategy of finding the best available alternative before investing a considerable sum.

there is the Wall Street fool, who thinks he must trade all the time. No man can always have adequate reasons for buying or selling stocks daily—or sufficient knowledge to make his play an intelligent play. I proved it.

demand imbalances. He believed that stories about speculators’ raids were essentially ghost stories that brokers told clients to keep them in the dark

Деньги на бирже делает не интеллект, а воля и бесконечное терпение

Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes.' -Jesse Livermore

Espanta pensar que la práctica del público sea recoger un beneficio de dos o tres puntos, pero dejar que las pérdidas alcancen los diez o quince puntos, y en algunas ocasiones incluso cincuenta o cien. Esto significa que el público aplica al revés el principio básico de Wall Street que dice: corta las pérdidas y deja correr las ganancias.

In the stock market, time is not money—time is time— and money is money." - Jesse Livermore.

When you are handling surplus income, do not delegate the task to anyone". Jesse Livermore.

Markets are never wrong —opinions often are." Jesse Livermore

Remember the clever speculator is always patient and has a reserve of cash.” —Jesse Livermore.

I do not take tips. I prefer to make my own mistakes—not the mistakes of other people!” - Jesse Livermore.

There is always the temptation in the stock market, after a period of success, to become careless or excessively ambitious". - Jesse Livermore.

Remember, the stock market is not driven by reason, logic, or pure economics, but by human nature which never changes." - Jesse Livermore

The successful investor is not invested in the market all the time ; there are many times when you should be completely in cash - Jesse Livermore

Over the years I took many millions of dollars out of Wall Street and invested them in Florida land, aircraft companies, oil wells, and new miracle products based on new inventions—they were all abject failures, disasters. I lost every cent I ever invested in them" - Jesse Livermore.

Livermore was also conscious of the fact by then that if you do well, if you are successful, most people become envious, and they covet your success; if you do poorly they revel in your misfortune".

Livermore had no interest in tips, gossip, and the interpretation of the daily news events concerning the stock market".

One of the things Livermore liked best about his job, was the solitude—he loved the individuality, being the lone wolf—everything that happened occurred as a result of his judgment.

All Livermore’s life, he found that there is true joy in the solitude and the pure mathematical work he did during this time '.

It is also interesting to observe that there are now, in 2004, more mutual funds than stocks on the NYSE".

Stock market moves up roughly a third of the time, sideways a third of the time, and downward a third of the time".

It is extremely dangerous to sell short because the potential loss is unlimited".

Позднее сыновья Пол и Джесси задали Ливермору важный вопрос: "Папа, почему ты так успешно работаешь на рынке, а другие люди теряют там все свои деньги?" "Ребята, фондовый рынок нужно изучать, и изучать не от случая к случаю, а глубоко, тщательно. По моим наблюдениям большинство людей более тщательно и внимательно относятся к покупке какой-либо бытовой техники, или покупке машины, чем к покупке акций.

我的经验足以为我证明，真正从投机交易中得来的利润，都来自那些从头开始就一直盈利的头寸。

Trader 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.

The reason for what a certain stock does today may not be known for two or three days, or weeks, or months. But what the dickens does that matter? Your business with the tape is now - not tomorrow! The reason can wait. But you must act instantly or be left.

If you do not know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out.

Human nature never changes. Therefore, the stock market never changes. Only the faces, the pockets, the suckers, and the manipulators, the wars, the disasters and the technologies change. The market itself never changes. How can it? Human nature never changes, and human nature runs the market—not reason, not economics, and certainly not logic. It is our human emotions that drive the market, as they do most other things on this planet. —Jesse Livermore (1940)

*Emotional control is the most essential factor in playing the market. *Don’t anticipate! Wait until the market gives you the clues, the signals, the hints, before you move. Move only after you have confirmation. Anticipation is the killer. It is the brother to greed and hope. Don’t make decisions based on anticipation. The market always gives you time. If you wait for the clues there will be plenty of time to execute your moves.

Broke and ashamed, he disappeared for two days in 1933. His wife set out to find him. “Jesse L. Livermore, the stock market operator, of 1100 Park Avenue missing and has not been seen since 3pm yesterday,” The New York Times wrote in 1933