1940165438+1October 28th, the coldest winter in new york, a gunshot came from the cloakroom of a Manhattan hotel. An old man with a pistol pointed at his right ear and shot himself, leaving a suicide note for his wife:
"... I can't stand it any longer. Everything about me is terrible. I am tired of fighting. I can't hold on any longer. This is the only relief. I don't deserve your love. I am a loser. I'm really sorry, but I have no choice ... "
Livermore experienced four ups and downs in his life. 1934, 56-year-old Livermore declared bankruptcy for the fourth time. Nobody knows why he went bankrupt. However, due to his foresight, as early as 19 17, he bought a trust pension fund of 800,000 dollars for his family, so although he went bankrupt, he did not fall into poverty.
Livermore's suicide was not due to bankruptcy and poverty. As for the real reason, perhaps we can get a glimpse from Livermore's life experience.
Jesse Lauriston Livermore was born on July 26th, 877 in Shu Ci, Massachusetts, USA. He is the only son of a pair of poor farmers. When he was a child, he showed a far superior mathematical talent. However, his father told him that it was useless for farmers to go to school, so he was taken away from school to do farm work at the age of 14, and the young Livermore suffered the first major blow in his life. His mother supported him privately. /kloc-When he was 0/4 years old, he left his parents with only $5 in his pocket. He went to Boston, where he got his first job as a blackboard boy (the younger brother who records the stock market, also known as the stock market scribe) in the local Paine Weber branch.
His job is to write down the prices of stocks, bonds and commodities on a big blackboard. This job is boring, but he is very interested in the data he wrote down. Gradually, he found that price changes are usually predictable. A month later, it was 1892, and he was just 15 years old. He used his lunch break to start speculative trading in a nearby "bucket shop" (betting bank, no actual stock trading, using stock fluctuations to bet with customers). Soon, young Livermore accumulated $65,438+0,000-a "huge sum" at that time.
To sum up, in his first job, his experience laid a good foundation for his later speculative career. Although he failed to receive higher education, his extreme sensitivity to numbers, excellent mental arithmetic ability and amazing memory made him have extraordinary performance as soon as he entered the business. Driven by his talent and understanding, he was first interested in the change of numbers, and then interested in the change of prices. He found that when the market goes up or down, stock prices usually show certain "habits". Some similar phenomena emerge one after another, and we can even sum up laws from these changes to guide the future stock market.
In this way, when 14- 15 years old, he accumulated thousands of stock quotes.
Later, he started his first adventure on Wall Street with $2,500 (during which he earned $65,438+$00,000, but most of it was lost and spent), but he failed. He can only borrow 1 000 from the agent Ed Hutton to look for opportunities in the barrel shop again. 1899, at the age of 22, he started his adventure on wall street again with 10000 dollars. 190 1 year, he made huge profits in the bull market, made a profit of $50,000 and started shorting, and soon lost all. This is a lesson he must learn. Although he judged the right direction of the market, bad operation ruined his beautiful plan.
In order to make a comeback, his wife refused to pawn jewelry, so he had to go back to the barrel shop to look for opportunities. When he raised enough money again, he returned to Wall Street. He improved the system and especially studied the attitude of losers, because he didn't want to be a loser again. In this process, he gradually realized the similarities and differences between the two kinds of trading, and summed up a set of secrets of stock trading.
These secrets include but are not limited to:
If you are going to make a living in this industry (stock trading), then you must absolutely believe in yourself and your own judgment, and don't be led by the so-called "inside information".
You know, speculation is a hard and arduous job. A speculator must always devote himself to his work, otherwise, you will soon be defeated, even instantly, and become unemployed.
Speculation is not pure mathematics, nor is it a set of fixed rules. No matter how strict its basic behavior rules are, you still need to judge whether it will change according to the behavior characteristics of the stock and the specific precursors you observe in the future.
If you want to earn more, you must comprehensively evaluate the overall market and trends; Judge the overall market situation, open positions, and adhere to ...
Never share the loss equally, and remember this principle firmly.
Excellent speculators are always waiting, always patient, waiting for the market to confirm their judgment. Remember, don't trust your judgment completely until the performance of the market itself confirms your point of view.
1902, when Livermore was 25, he succeeded again. The subsequent career was smooth sailing. 1907, 10 year 1 On October 24th, Livermore, 30, made his first110,000 dollars by shorting in the market crash.
Livermore's success made him famous overnight, and Jesse almost became synonymous with "wealth". Jesse's success fascinated him. He bought a 200-foot yacht and fell in love with women. "Gold is not enough, and no one is perfect." Livermore is no exception. When a man reaches middle age and has a successful career, he gives up the self-disciplined life of poor children when he was young and pursues a luxurious lifestyle. He is addicted to debauchery and owes a lot of romantic debts, especially having an affair with many actresses in the Siegfried Song and Dance Troupe where his second wife Dorothy is located. People may give moral condemnation to this, but it should not be exaggerated or demanding.
In 45 Years of Wall Street, Gann called Jesse "the most outstanding securities speculator of that era" (page 1 17). Gann believes that Jesse has an excellent reputation, and even if he has just been released from bankruptcy court, people will not doubt his solvency.
Gann's remarks also represent the most pertinent evaluation of Livermore by the market. The way Livermore ended his life did not affect his brilliant achievements in the speculative market, nor did it affect his talent and keen learning ability. Livermore is a veritable king of investment and a maverick stock investment practitioner. His understanding of the trend and the role of position management, the method of not listening to inside information, the emphasis on investment intuition, the skills of shorting and so on. It is worthy of every investor's careful appreciation.
The stock and futures markets crisscross, with profit and loss, success and failure, hope and despair appearing alternately, endlessly ... Livermore's material life and spiritual life have gone from trough to peak again and again, and his mental state can be imagined. Pain, loss, helplessness, regret, despair, and so on, I am afraid that only those who have been groping in the speculative market for many years can understand the taste.