ZF Capital » Jesse Livermore

Thought of the Day (June 18, 2010)

ElfLord — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:54:31 +0000

The speculator is not an investor. His object is not to secure a steady return on his money at a good rate of interest, but to profit by either a rise or a fall in the price of whatever he may be speculating in. Therefore the thing to determine is the speculative line of least resistance at the moment of trading; and what he should wait for is the moment when that line defines itself, because that is the signal to get busy.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (June 13, 2010)

ElfLord — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 21:47:21 +0000

It is my conclusion that playing the market is partly an art form, it is not just pure reason. If it were pure reason, then somebody would have figured it out long ago. That is why I believe every speculator must analyze his own emotions to find out just what stress level he can endure. Every speculator is different, every human psyche is unique, every personality exclusive to that person. Learn your own emotional limits before attempting to speculate-that is my advice to any one who has ever asked me what makes a successful speculator. If you can’t sleep at night because of your stock market position then you have gone too far; if this is the case, then sell your position down to the sleeping level.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (June 5, 2010)

ElfLord — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:35:23 +0000

It was not that all I needed to learn was not to take tips but follow my own inclination. It was that I gained confidence in myself and I was able finally to shake off the old method of trading. That Saratoga experience was my last haphazard, hit-or-miss operation. From then on I began to think of basic conditions instead of individual stocks. I promoted my self to a higher grade in the hard school of speculation.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (May 15, 2010)

ElfLord — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:22:46 +0000

It is foolhardy to make a second trade, if your first trade shows you a loss. Never average losses. Let this thought be written indelibly upon your mind.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (May 6, 2010)

ElfLord — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:07:35 +0000

When you are doing nothing, those speculators who feel they must trade day in and day out, are laying the foundation for your next venture. You will reap benefits from their mistakes.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (March 28, 2010)

ElfLord — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:19:44 +0000

You watch the market that is, the course of prices as recorded by the tape– with one object: to determine the direction– that is, the price tendency. Prices, we know, will move either up or down according to the resistance they encounter. For purposes of easy explanation we will say that prices, like everything else, move along the line of least resistance. They will do whatever comes easiest, therefore they will go up if there is less resistance to an advance than to a decline; and vice versa.

Nobody should be puzzled as to whether a market is a bull market or a bear market after it fairly starts. The trend is evident to a man who has an open mind and reasonably clear sight, for it is never wise for a speculator to fit his facts to his theories. Such a man will, or ought to, know whether it is a bull or a bear market, and if he knows that, he knows whether to buy or sell. It is therefore at the very inception of the movement that a men needs to know whether to buy or sell.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (March 23, 2010)

ElfLord — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:11:43 +0000

A man must believe in himself and his judgment if he expects to make a living at this game. That is why I don’t believe in tips. If I buy stocks on Smith’s tip I must sell those same stocks on Smith’s tip. I am depending on him. Suppose Smith is away on a holiday when the selling time comes around? No, sir, nobody can make big money on what someone else tells him to do. I know from experience that nobody can give me a tip or a series of tips that will make more money for me than my own judgment.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (February 28, 2010)

ElfLord — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:13:07 +0000

The game of speculation is the most uniformly fascinating game in the world. But it is not a game for the stupid, the mentally lazy, the person of inferior emotional balance, or the get-rich-quick adventurer. They will die poor.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (February 23, 2010)

ElfLord — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:03:40 +0000

Don’t take action with a trade until the market, itself, confirms your opinion. Being a little late in a trade is insurance that your opinion is correct. In other words, don’t be an impatient trader.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (February 17, 2010)

ElfLord — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:54:22 +0000

One of the most helpful things that anybody can learn is to give up trying to catch the last eighth or the first. These two are the most expensive eighths in the world.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (February 8, 2010)

ElfLord — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:07:23 +0000

The man who is right always has two forces working in his favor – basic conditions and the men who are wrong.

– Jesse Livermore

Thought of the Day (February 6, 2010)

ElfLord — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:04:26 +0000

There is a time for all things, but I didn’t know it. And that is precisely what beats so many men in Wall Street who are very far from being in the main sucker class. There is the plain fool, who does the wrong thing at all times everywhere, but 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.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (January 28, 2010)

ElfLord — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:42:15 +0000

Tape reading was an important part of the game; so was beginning at the right time; so was sticking to your position. But my greatest discovery was that a man must study general conditions, to size them so as to be able to anticipate probabilities. In short, I had learned that I had to work for my money. I was no longer betting blindly or concerned with mastering the technique of the game, but with earning my successes by hard study and clear thinking. I also had found out that nobody was immune from the danger of making sucker plays.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (January 12, 2010)

ElfLord — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:43:11 +0000

It was never my thinking that made big money for me. It was my sitting. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after this that a stock operator can make big money. it is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of ignorance.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (December 31, 2009)

ElfLord — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:10:38 +0000

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 (technical) formations and patterns recur on a constant basis.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (December 21, 2009)

ElfLord — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:53:10 +0000

Tips! How people want tips! They crave not only to get them but to give them. There is greed involved, and vanity. It is very amusing, at times, to watch really intelligent people fish for them. And the tip-giver need not hesitate about the quality, for the tip-seeker is not really after good tips, but after any tip. If it makes good, fine! If it doesn’t, better luck with the next.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (December 7, 2009)

ElfLord — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:57:35 +0000

Nothing new occurs in the business of speculating or investing in securities.

Years pass; bull markets come and go. Yet the basics are still the same: Price, volume, and crowd behavior set the stage for all else.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (December 5, 2009)

ElfLord — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:46:23 +0000

Money cannot consistently be made trading every day or every week during the year.

In other words, overtrading is a great way to lose money. Standing aside is the right call more often than not.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (November 22, 2009)

ElfLord — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:34:38 +0000

It takes a man a long time to learn all the lessons of all his mistakes. They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side. It took me longer to get that general principle fixed firmly in my mind than it did most of the more technical phases of the game of stock speculation.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (November 20, 2009)

ElfLord — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:31:49 +0000

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.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (November 10, 2009)

ElfLord — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:19:59 +0000

A man may beat a stock or group at a certain time, but no man living can beat the stock market.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (November 6, 2009)

ElfLord — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:13:26 +0000

The tape never lies.

– Jesse Livermore

Thought of the Day (October 27, 2009)

ElfLord — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:32:57 +0000

It is the big swing that makes the big money for you.

– Jesse Livermore

Thought of the Day (October 18, 2009)

ElfLord — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:54:24 +0000

If somebody had told me my method would not work I nevertheless would have tried it out to make sure for myself, for when I am wrong only one thing convinces me of it, and that is, to lose money. And I am only right when I make money. That is speculating.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (October 16, 2009)

ElfLord — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:33:59 +0000

Of course there is always a reason for fluctuations, but what the tape does not concern itself with the why and wherefore. It doesn’t go into explanations. 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.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (August 30, 2009)

ElfLord — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:53:33 +0000

In a narrow market, when prices are not getting anywhere to speak of but move in a narrow range, there is no sense in trying to anticipate what the next big movement is going to be — up or down.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (August 6, 2009)

ElfLord — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:55:37 +0000

A speculator must not merely be a student, he must be both a student and a speculator.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 29, 2009)

ElfLord — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:07:30 +0000

Money does not give a trader more comfort, because, rich or poor, he can make mistakes and it is never comfortable to be wrong. And when a millionaire is right his money is merely one of his several servants. Losing money is the least of my troubles. A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong – not taking the loss – that is what does the damage to the pocketbook and to the soul.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 21, 2009)

ElfLord — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:49:18 +0000

When you make a trade, you should have a clear target where to sell if the market moves against you. And you must obey your rules! Never sustain a loss of more than 10% of your capital. Losses are twice as expensive to make up. I always established a stop before making a trade.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 18, 2009)

ElfLord — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:41:09 +0000

I am fully aware that of the millions of people who speculate in the markets, few people spend full time involved in the art of speculation. Yet, as far as I’m concerned it is a full-time job perhaps even more than a job. Perhaps it is a vocation, where many are called but few are singled out for success.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 16, 2009)

ElfLord — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:33:49 +0000

I have always played a lone hand. I began that way in the bucket shops and have kept it up. It is the way my mind works. I have to do my own seeing and my own thinking.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 14, 2009)

ElfLord — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:29:53 +0000

The big money is made by the sittin’ and the waitin’ not the thinking. Wait until all the factors are in your favor before making the trade.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 8, 2009)

ElfLord — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:54:17 +0000

Among the hazards of speculation the happening of the unexpected – I might even say of the unexpectable – ranks high.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Thought of the Day (July 7, 2009)

ElfLord — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:52:15 +0000

There is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again.

– Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator