Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

First published in 1923, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the fictionalized biography of Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest speculators ever. Reminiscences remains the most widely read, highly recommended investment book ever written. Generations of investors have found that it has more to teach them about themselves and other investors than years of experience in the market. This is a timeless tale that will enrich the lives - and portfolios - of today's investors as it has those of generations past.

Excellent book

Helped equip me with the right mindset of accepting losses as a business cost becuase "the market will do what it does"

Also teaches the value of "going with the direction of the market" as well as easy explanations of other principles such as price movement, lines of least resistance and"double pressure"
It also provides a demonstration of the value of remaining determined and believing in your edge

The biggest thing I learned from the book was that even the greats blew out accounts and that I need to always protect capital and stash it away when times are good away from the market. Timeless classic.

Edwin Lefevre's "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" is a "fictionalized" memoir of the real-life trader Jesse Livermore - considered by some the greatest stock trader of all-time. Working in the early twentieth century, Livermore started from nothing and built multi-million dollar wealth multiple times, only to repeatedly lose it. Livermore was so respected and feared during his era that rumors of his trades would create and destroy fortunes on Wall Street. In this book, written in 1922, Livermore tells the

This book is not a full memoir of his life and instead focuses only on his "business." He only refers to his wife or personal life as it relates to his investing; for example, in one case, one executive "used" his wife by dropping some insider information to her over dinner in an effort to encourage Livermore to trade in that company. Livermore did, but - as someone who didn't believe in buying on tips - her instead shorted that company. Still, because he never focused on his personal life and rarely on his personal feelings, I was shocked to later read that Livermore killed himself twenty years later and had had four wives.