Book Review
|
| If I were
stranded on a tropical island and I only had one book to read
for the rest of my life which book would I choose?
Well, it could quite possibly be "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin LeFevre. Despite "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" being written in the early 1920s, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator continues to be the most useful and most-loved book ever written on the subject of trading and speculation. |
In this novel, LeFevre brilliantly describes
the life and times of the books protagonist, Larry Livingston, a
pseudonym for Jesse Livermore, one of historys most famous traders.
Livingston
never considered himself an investor; he was a speculator. He didnt
mind being long or short, he just wanted to be correct. His approach
was to figure out what the path of least resistance was and then
go with the flow. He didnt believe in picking tops or bottoms; he
waited for a trend to be confirmed and then jumped in, thus never
fighting the tape.
Livingston never traded out of boredom or solely for the sake of
the excitement it brought to him. He knew that he could get rich
by following a defined trend and thus calmly waited on the sidelines
when the market was directionless. Had Livingston been alive today
he would certainly be a momentum/price action based trader.
Although
a sizeable portion of the book vividly describes the highs and lows
of Livingstons exciting life, the meat of the book comes in the
form of trading commandments that every successful trader can likely
repeat even while asleep. These are the trading rules that have
been passed down from mothers to daughters, fathers to sons, mentors
to students, winners to losers.
This is the book from which almost every subsequent general trading
book is derived. If you have ever wondered where the trading rule
"Never average down" came from, just turn to page 154. Where did
the comparison between greed and fear first originate? Youll find
it on page 130. Some other rules to live by that were introduced
in LeFevres book are:
-The
trend is your friend.
-History repeats itself.
-No stock is too high to buy or too low to sell.
-Let your winners run and cut your losses quickly.
For
beginners, this book will give you a strong and sturdy foundation
on which you can build your successful trading career. It will fill
your absorbent trading mind with vitally important trading principles
in a clear and understandable manner. For experienced traders, reading
this book again will galvanize your mind and refresh your spirit
for trading. It brings clarity as to why we trade and how to best
go about it. This is a must read for beginners and a must re-read
for all others.
Click
Here to purchase your copy of Reminiscences
of a Stock Operator.
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