This is about the wonderful book, "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator." It's a biographical novel about Jesse Livermore, who was known as the "king of speculation" on Wall Street. This book shows us that, through his many ups and downs on the stock market, Livermore learned an important lesson: to survive, you have to be friends with the trend and enemies with yourself.

Let's start by explaining what we mean by the term 'trader'. The word 'trader' originally meant a skilled or expert person, but here it refers to a large trader who makes a living from trading and is a powerful figure in the market. The lovely "stock trader" in the title of this book is Jesse Livermore. Jesse Livermore was born in 1877 and spent most of his life on Wall Street, from the late 19th century to the 1930s. In a public poll launched by the New York Times in 1999, he was voted the number one American stock market player of the past 100 years by a landslide! He even beat Warren Buffett, the "godfather of American investors"; the financial philosopher George Soros; and Peter Lynch, the most successful fund manager in history!

Just how legendary is Livermore, then? He finished primary school and started trading on the stock market with just $5 at the tender age of 14. By the time he was 15, he'd already made $1,000, and by 29, he'd become a millionaire! Livermore was 52 when the 1929 stock market crash hit the United States. While others lost a lot of money, he had the brilliant idea to bet against the market and made a cool $100 million in just a few days! That's equivalent to tens of billions of dollars today!

I bet Livermore would soon become the richest man in the world, right? Sadly, that wasn't to be. He went bankrupt less than five years later, which was the last major bankruptcy of his life. A few years later, he sadly took his own life. How on earth did Livermore, who had only attended primary school, become a Wall Street legend? It's a real shame that such a brilliant man went bankrupt several times and even committed suicide. And the answer is in this wonderful book, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.

The book was lovingly crafted by Wall Street financial journalist Edwin Lefèvre, who based it on Livermore's own dictation. It was serialised in newspapers in 1922 and published in book form the following year. As a biographical novel, the book is a wonderful mix of true records of Livermore's experiences and the author's own creative touches. However, it's still the best place to learn about Livermore's life and investment philosophy! There are so many different editions of the book! Some are signed by both Livermore and Livermore, and some are even signed only by Livermore. In the book, Livermore is known by the lovely pseudonym "Larry Livingstone". To make things easier to understand, we'll call the main character Livermore in this story.

This book is like an encyclopedia of the stock market! Even though it's about the American stock market over a hundred years ago, it's still really similar to today's financial markets and is super valuable for reference! This book is also known as "the only stock-related book that people who don't speculate in stocks need to read" because it offers such a profound portrayal of human nature. This wonderful book was introduced to China in 1998, and in the past 20 years, there have been at least 20 editions, with an average of one edition per year! It's safe to say that almost every senior stock investor has a copy!

Every single sentence in this book is a pearl of wisdom from Livermore's decades of experience in the stock market. It's no surprise that generations of investment gurus have quoted from it! For instance, he said, "It's more important to know what not to do than what to do," and, "Do the right thing first, and making money will follow." He also said, "The stock market isn't a battle between people. It's a confrontation between visions." In this audio episode, I've put together a summary of Livermore's lessons as three simple rules for survival in the stock market.

Firstly, there's no need to worry that there's anything new on Wall Street because human nature never changes!

Secondly, the market is never wrong! My advice to you is to be friends with the trend and go with the flow.

And finally, we all make mistakes! It's so important to be your own ally and work on your human weaknesses.

Part 1

Let's chat about Livermore's first rule: there's nothing new on Wall Street because human nature never changes.

As we all know, Wall Street is home to some of the biggest and best companies in the US financial industry. For more than a century, Wall Street has been the heart of the US and even the global financial industry, and has seen so many amazing things!

But Livermore said with a smile, "Speculation is as old as the mountains." It's so interesting how the stock market works! What happens today has happened before and will happen again. It doesn't matter if it was in Livermore's time, decades before on Wall Street, or in today's global financial markets – the cycle of bull and bear markets just keeps on repeating itself! Many financial giants have come and gone, and generations of stock gods have come and gone too. It's amazing how things change! The location and names have shifted, but the essence remains the same. It's often said that history repeats itself, and nowhere is that more true than on Wall Street.

So, you might be wondering, why is that? That's because markets are made up of people, and human nature is something we all have in common. It's always the same story. Market changes are actually caused by human nature's greed, fear, ignorance and hope.

It's so easy for these human natures to become fatal weaknesses in the investment field. We all want to make money, and that's why we enter the stock market. However, stocks rise and fall every day, and your wealth on the account is constantly changing, so your emotions will fluctuate accordingly. It's totally normal! We've all been there. When the market is not going your way, you really hope it's the last day of losses. You hold on to your stocks instead of selling, but then you lose more and more. When the market is going your way, you're so excited! But then you start to worry that the profits will be gone the next day, so you rush to exit. Unfortunately, because of your worry, you lose money that you should have earned.

This kind of greed and fear plays out over and over again, so there's really nothing new in the financial markets. So, Livermore says that if you want to make it in the stock market, you've got to learn from history and learn from your mistakes.

First, let's have a chat about learning from history.

Jesse Livermore started working at a stock speculation firm when he was just 14 years old. He was responsible for recording the real-time price of stocks, and his weekly salary was just $5! This kind of speculation firm is actually a pure casino. People didn't actually buy and sell stocks, but they were gambling on whether the price would rise or fall. So, if you bet $1 on a stock to rise, you'd be onto a winner! You'd make $1 if it rose by $1, or 10 times that if it rose by $10. But if it fell by $1, that would be a shame because you would lose your stake. The great thing about this casino was that you could place your bets whenever you liked and settle up at any time.

The great thing about this game is that you can make a profit without risking anything! Firstly, they can earn some lovely high transaction fees, and secondly, they have a bit of an advantage in terms of probability. It's so hard to win at gambling! The odds of getting it right are far less than half. Even if they get it right this time, if they keep on playing, they'll probably make a mistake at some point. But the most important thing to remember is that we all have emotions, and we all have a tendency to act on greed and fear. It's only natural that when gamblers lose, they want to recoup their losses. The thing is, the more they gamble, the more they lose. When they make a profit, they just want to keep going! And as long as there's a little bit of a change in the stock price, they'll keep on going.

Livermore was a child prodigy when it came to the speculative business. He was like a fish in water and almost always won. By the time he was just 15, he had already earned a whopping $1,000! That's an income that would only come after a few years of working. Guess what! The money he made in two days was the same as the profits contributed to the speculative firm by 300 other people in two weeks.

I'd love to know how Livermore did it! He had an excellent memory and was naturally very sensitive to numbers, which really helped him in his work. By recording and analysing the historical trends of each stock, he made an amazing discovery: there were patterns to the numbers on the quote sheet! For instance, before it went up or down, the stock price would always fluctuate in a similar way. If a certain waveform popped up, it would rise by 8 to 10 points the next time around. The stock price is really just people making bets, because we all tend to repeat our actions, and this is reflected in the quotation. After a little while, Livermore was able to guess the future rise and fall of the stock price just by looking at the numbers in the quotation! In today's terms, he already had a set of algorithms.

I just wanted to mention that the book describes Livermore's algorithm as magical, which might be a bit of an exaggeration. Even if it is true, in today's stock market, the number of stocks and the amount of market capital have long since increased by thousands of times, which makes this method basically inoperable. But the really important thing is that Livermore learned from history, summed up the laws, and made sense of the present and the future. I truly believe that everyone should adopt this way of thinking and acting.

It's also a great idea to learn from your own mistakes!

 Livermore soon realised that the best way to learn what to do and what not to do in the stock market is to lose everything. It's totally normal to lose money. What's not so easy is learning from it.

In other words, Livermore had already made a cool $10,000 from speculation before he even turned 20! But sadly, over time, various speculative firms were afraid of losing money and added Livermore to their blacklists, which meant they stopped doing business with him. Livermore was suddenly cut off from his source of wealth. He had to go all the way to Wall Street in New York, the headquarters of the stock market, to conduct real stock trading at a regular stock firm. But, sadly, just a few days after he arrived, he went bankrupt.

Oh, why was that? It was more than a hundred years ago now, and stock trading was all done manually. When a quote came out, it had to be sent across the country by telegraph, which caused a bit of a delay. A runner would then jot down the quote on a blackboard. By the time you gave the order to buy or sell, the price would have changed from the one you just saw. Livermore's original algorithm was still spot on when it came to predicting the ups and downs of stock prices. Unfortunately, the time delay made it completely useless. Let's say the stock price is 100, and you think it will rise. But by the time the transaction is completed, the price has already risen to 105! That can really increase the cost, which is a bummer. And don't forget there's also a time lag when selling! In the past, you could make money by guessing one or two points, but now you have to guess five or six points to make it work. It's a lot harder than it used to be! Livermore was a bit confused at first, but he kept on trying. Unfortunately, he lost more and more money as he kept on gambling, and before long, he'd lost all his capital.

After that, Livermore managed to get his money back and went back to New York. He learned from his previous mistakes and paid close attention to the issue of delayed quotes, becoming more cautious as a result. He was also lucky enough to catch the bull market and quickly earned 50,000 US dollars! But, sadly, just two days later, despite his accurate prediction, he lost all that money again. He still wasn't familiar with the rules, which was understandable.

At that time, the bull market was approaching its peak, and Livermore saw that the market was about to go down. He was really feeling the pressure! He put all his money on a stock to fall. And sure enough, the stock plummeted! But because it fell so fast, the quotation was seriously delayed. Oh dear, the order was placed when it was over 100, but the transaction price had already reached 80! And when he saw that it had already fallen too far, he tried to bet on the rise instead. But, poor guy, due to the delayed quotation, the transaction price was 15 higher. Sadly, Livermore quickly went bankrupt again.

He went bankrupt twice, poor guy, for almost exactly the same reason. The young Livermore quickly learned that the market had its own rules. He understood that if you traded without understanding the rules, you might lose everything.

Livermore's first stock market survival rule was a simple one: nothing is new on Wall Street, because human nature never changes. So, Livermore learned from history and put together a set of stock price prediction algorithms. He also learned from his own mistakes and made some great improvements to his algorithms.

Part 2

Let's chat about Livermore's second rule: the market is never wrong! So, be friends with the trend and go with the flow.

We all know that the stock market can be a daunting place for ordinary small and medium investors. It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to navigate it. It's only natural to want to know which stocks are profitable and to seek recommendations and insider information. It's so easy to think that you're the smartest person in the room when you're making money. But when things don't go your way, it's only natural to look for someone or something else to blame. We've all been there!

Livermore was always the first to admit that he wasn't perfect, but he never complained about the market or blamed others. Instead, he always took a moment to reflect on his mistakes and learn from them. He always said, "Everything has two sides, but the stock market only has one." "The market isn't wrong, only people can be wrong." Livermore learned a lot over the years. He found that while someone might sometimes beat a particular stock, no one could beat the market.

As we chatted about earlier, Livermore took the plunge and started trading in the real world. Unfortunately, he went bankrupt twice along the way. Livermore didn't give up. He kept going and made some great improvements to his algorithm to make it work better. In the past, in the speculative industry, he only needed to guess the stock price changes in the next hour or even the next minute – it was a lot to take in! These days, he has a longer-term perspective on Wall Street and has switched to judging medium- and long-term trends. This not only helps him avoid losses caused by delayed quotes, but it also makes money more easily! This was a big change for Livermore. He realised that if he wanted to make it in the market, he had to follow the trend.

I thought you might like to know this little trivia. In the world of finance, you'll often hear people chatting about "long" and "short" positions. A long position is when you think the price will rise, and a short position is when you think the price will fall. It's as simple as that! So, a long position is when you buy at a low price and sell at a higher price. And a short position is when you sell at a high price and buy at a lower price. A long position is all about buying, while a short position is all about selling. It doesn't matter whether you're long or short in the stock market. What matters is which side of the market you're on.

I'll use an analogy to help you understand. It's like riding an escalator. If you want to go upstairs, just hop on the escalator going upwards and you'll get there without moving a muscle! But if you hop on the escalator going the other way, you'll have to work really hard to get to the top. Even the great Livermore, who was always up for a challenge, could lose a lot of money if he went against the trend.

I think it would be a good idea for us to talk about Livermore's bankruptcy again. Livermore was still a young man, just under 30, and had been trading for 15 years. He was doing really well and making a nice profit. In that year, the stock market was doing really well, but Livermore found that the economic environment was not so good and there was a shortage of money, which made it tricky to keep the bull market going. It was only a matter of time before the stock market crashed. So he started to take a short position on a lot of different stocks. He was right, but unfortunately, it still led to his bankruptcy. He was one step ahead of the market and didn't wait for it to turn around before taking action. He was carried along by the flow of the trend.

Livermore learned a valuable lesson that day: while it's easy to make accurate predictions, the real challenge is acting at the right time and putting money in your pocket. The good news is that you can get twice the result with half the effort! All you have to do is be patient and wait for the market trend to come your way.

The following year, Livermore finally got the signal for the market crash. He borrowed money from a securities company and went short, and it was a huge success! He made a profit of one million dollars! The stock market crash was a real shock to the system. It left many people in ruins, so much so that J.P. Morgan, the financial guru of the time, had to specifically greet Livermore and ask him to stop short selling.

There were often whispers among investors that big players like Livermore and Soros had a hand in the market's sudden rises and falls. Livermore himself was quick to deny this. He truly believed that no one could control the market and beat it. The big players don't create trends, but they do use the market to their advantage. They know how to work with the market and use it to their benefit. That's how they become big winners!

I totally get it. I know I have to go with the general trend, but it's so difficult to do in practice. "How can you tell which way the trend is going and make the most of it?" Livermore has two great tips for us here.

The first thing to remember is that the trick to judging the trend is to look for the direction of least resistance.

We all know that the price of a stock is the result of the combined action of buyers and sellers. The stock price will go in the direction of whichever side has more capital and is stronger. It's as simple as that! In other words, the stock price is like flowing water: it goes where there is less resistance and it takes less effort to move.

Let's say a stock has been on a downward trend for a while and is now at a great price. If the external environment is also positive, it means that those who sold have already done so, and those who are left are also reluctant to sell. Even if there's some not-so-great news, the stock price won't drop too much. But as soon as there's good news, someone will buy in large quantities, and the stock price will rise significantly! In this case, the best thing to do is to look for the upward direction of the stock. It's always a good idea to keep an eye out for those key points, like round numbers like 10, 100, 130, and historical highs. Once the price breaks through, it'll attract more people and money, and the stock price will rise even faster! It's amazing how quickly things can change! In just a few days, the increase will far exceed that of the previous few months or even years.

Let's take a look at an interesting case involving Livermore and wheat futures. Livermore was always very patient. When someone asked him about the wheat trend, he simply said to observe and wait. And wait he did! He waited until the price exceeded $1.2 before taking action. Someone then asked, "It's currently $1.14, isn't that cheaper?" Why not wait for a better price? "I just wonder if that might reduce your profit?" Livermore replied that the price was low now, but it was not certain that it would rise. He was happy to help, though, and was happy to answer any other questions anyone else might have. Instead of taking a chance, it was better to wait for the trend to take shape. It didn't matter if he made less money, what he really wanted was a more secure profit. Over the next few months, wheat futures saw some ups and downs, ranging between 1.1 and 1.2 yuan. At last, the price went above 1.2 yuan, and Livermore started buying again. The price shot up really quickly, and he followed suit, buying more and more to make the most of the good times.

Livermore had a different approach. He liked to go long at high prices and short at low prices, which is a bit different from the usual "buy low, sell high" advice. I know it seems a bit unusual, but after he'd identified the direction of the trend, he made a fortune by taking advantage of it!

The second trick is to make the most of the trend: go long in a bull market and short in a bear market.

Livermore once met an old man who, at first glance, seemed unremarkable. He rarely spoke, never asked for insider information, and never complained. But he was said to have made a lot of money in the stock market! The old man was like a sage, like the monk who sweeps the temple floor in those wonderful martial arts novels we all love. One day, a young stock investor recommended a stock to the old man. A few days later, the young man ran up to him, all excited, and said, "It's already up 7 points! So sell it quickly, please!" But the old man just smiled, waved his hand, and calmly said, "If I sell, I'll lose my position." "This is a bull market, you know!"

 Livermore was absolutely convinced that this was the best lesson he had ever learned: that making big money depends not on small fluctuations, but on the general trend. It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement of a bull market and start trading and switching stocks left and right, trying to catch every rise and avoid every fall. But this can lead to missing out on some big, rising stocks and big waves. I'm sure you'll agree that the best strategy for a bull market is to buy and hold.

The wonderful thing about stock prices is that they tend to follow a certain pattern. This is driven by two main factors: market capital and sentiment. Once a trend has formed, it will continue in a general direction for a period of time, despite any little fluctuations. Even if something unexpected happens, it'll still be in line with the trend. This is because in a bull market, everyone is so excited about all the good news that bad news is either ignored or even seen as good news. In a bear market, it's natural to focus on the negative, while positive news might not get the attention it deserves. In this case, the best thing you can do is stick with the general trend.

Livermore's second stock market survival rule is a great one to keep in mind: the market is not wrong, treat trends as allies, and go with the flow. Once you've figured out which way the trend is going, just follow it! Don't worry about little ups and downs, go long in a bull market and go short in a bear market.

Livermore's third survival rule is a good one! It says to be your own enemy, overcome human weaknesses, and don't speculate in stocks like a normal person.

We all know that Wall Street is the most profitable place in the world, where the global elite come together. So, does that mean that to make good investments, you need to be super smart and well-educated? But if that were the case, the richest people in the world would be university professors! I'm happy to say that this is not the case! It's actually the opposite! Many highly intelligent people don't do as well as average when it comes to investing. Take the great scientist Isaac Newton, for example. He once lost a huge amount of money in a stock market bubble, losing 20,000 pounds, which is the equivalent of tens of millions of yuan today. And in the end, he said something really famous: "I can calculate the trajectory of celestial bodies, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the madness of human nature."

Livermore is a great example of this. He only went to primary school but grew up to become a stock god! The well-known fund manager Peter Lynch once said: All you need to invest successfully is the ability to do fifth grade maths!

I'm not saying that knowledge and culture aren't important. They are! But I do think that the key to success in investing is not intelligence, but psychology. If you want to succeed in the stock market, it's important to remember that we all have our human weaknesses, like greed, fear and ignorance. Livermore even said that it's a mistake for a normal person to enter the stock market.

So, how can regular folks like us speculate in the stock market? Most people have two options: first, they can find a mentor and let someone recommend a stock for them; second, someone can give them insider information or hearsay, and they can follow the news. These two methods are very much in line with the things that make us human, like our tendency to be a bit deluded, greedy for a bargain and lazy. They seem like a good idea at first, but unfortunately they just don't work. Livermore is very clear in this book that he doesn't agree with these two methods.

Let's dive in and look at the first point: can you listen to the experts when it comes to speculating in the stock market?

In most fields, if we want to do something well, it's a great idea to seek the guidance of experts and masters. Even doing exactly as they say can help us learn and grow! We all know that when we're feeling under the weather, we go to the doctor. When we're facing a legal challenge, we turn to a lawyer. And when our car decides to break down, we call the mechanic.

However, this isn't the case in the securities industry. Stock investment is not like curing an illness, going to court, or fixing a car. It's a whole different ballgame! Just because someone is in a position of authority or has lots of experience doesn't mean they're always right. It's not always easy to make money in the stock market, even if you're the boss of a listed company and have all the information about the company, or even if you're a Nobel Prize winner in economics and familiar with the laws of economic operation! The stock market has its own logic, and it can be really tough to make money from it consistently. That's why it's so important to be able to call yourself an expert! Even the most skilled stock market expert with a set of money-making methods will be just as inaccurate as a random person tossing a coin if they're asked to predict the rise and fall of a specific stock tomorrow.

Livermore had a bit of a rough patch financially because he put too much trust in the opinions of other people. Livermore made a fortune in 1907 by shorting cotton futures and was known as the new "Cotton King"! At this time, the old "Cotton King" Thomas sent him an invitation to meet with him and offered to cooperate. Thomas had been in the cotton market for many years and was as well-known to cotton merchants around the world as Steve Jobs is in the technology industry today. Livermore, although already very powerful, still went to meet Thomas like a young fan meeting an idol.

However, the two men had different ideas about what the future trend of cotton futures would be. Livermore saw Thomas as a kind and intelligent friend, so he was happy to follow his advice. Livermore changed his strategy, but unfortunately lost all the millions he had previously made. This was another sad entry in the history of personal bankruptcy.

It's always good to get advice from experts, but remember they can't be held responsible for your wallet. It's so important to trust your own judgment, even when the authorities are telling you otherwise. Even if you make money, you might not know how you made it, and you could end up losing more money if you don't have all the information.

Oh, we all know we can't really take the advice of the authorities, can we?

Let's dive into the second point together! So, can we listen to insider information?

It's often said that the capital market is a battlefield of information, and information is an opportunity and money. Let's say, for instance, that a company has some great news. Its stock price is likely to rise! So, if you know the news before it's announced, couldn't you buy in advance and wait to make money? I'm sorry to say that this is not the case.

It's also important to remember that, in today's society, it's illegal to profit from insider information. If you do, you could face fines and even imprisonment. Livermore was so wise! Even back in the day when insider information wasn't illegal, he refused to listen to any gossip or insider rumours. Even if a good friend shares some information with you and they've also invested a lot of money, there's no guarantee that it's reliable.

I'd love to tell you why! Firstly, it's worth noting that the insider information you receive may not always be 100% accurate. If there's good news about a stock, it's only natural to wonder why the person sharing it wouldn't keep it to themselves and make a killing instead of spreading it to you. It's sad to say that there are often groups within the market who spread false information in order to sell stocks to small and medium investors at high prices. But someone will always believe it and bet their life savings on it, bless them!

Secondly, even if it is true, it can be really tricky to make a profit when you receive it. Let's say a company's doing well and making more money. The people in the know will be the first to know, but will they be the first to share the good news? The insiders will hold on to the good news until they've bought enough to make a profit.

And there's more! Insiders will only tell you when to buy, but not when to sell. It doesn't matter if it's true or false news. If you know it earlier or later, you're still relying on other people and don't have your own way of making money. I'm sure you'll agree that even if you make money in the short term, you'll lose it in the long term.

Livermore himself didn't pay any mind to insider info, but his wife was sadly fooled by it. There was once a company president who pretended to be mysterious and told Mrs. Livermore that our company has some very exciting news and that the stock price will definitely rise. I'm only sharing this news with you because I respect you so much. He thought that Mrs. Livermore would definitely tell her husband. After all, Mr. Livermore had a lot of capital and influence, so the stock price would definitely rise even higher. That would be a great opportunity for him to profit from it. But sadly, his plan didn't work out the way he'd hoped. It just so happened that Mrs. Livermore had recently become quite wealthy and was eager to make more money by investing in the stock market without her husband's knowledge. Sadly, within just a few days, she had lost all her money. There was no other option but to tell her husband. Livermore was at a loss for words. Oh dear, this is the stock I recently shorted. I really thought it would plummet, but I could be wrong!

It seems that this is the difference between the wife of the stock god and the stock god himself! One listens to what the experts say and taps into insider information, while the other trusts only in their own gut feeling.

Livermore's third stock market survival rule is a great one! It's all about being your own ally, conquering your own human weaknesses, and not speculating in stocks like a regular person. It's especially important to remember not to let yourself be influenced by what the experts and insiders say. Instead, trust your own instincts and think for yourself!

Summary

That's a wrap on this book! Let's recap the main points from this audio together. We've chatted about Livermore's three golden rules for survival in the stock market:

The first rule is that there's never anything new on Wall Street because human nature never changes. The stock market is really just a game between people, and investors can learn so much from history and from their own mistakes!

The second rule is to be friends with the market and go with the flow. One great way to spot a trend is to look for the direction of least resistance. It's a great idea to go long in a bull market and short in a bear market. Don't worry about small fluctuations, just focus on the general trend and you'll make a steady profit!

The third rule is to be your own friend and conquer your human weaknesses. If you want to make it in the market over the long term, it's important to think differently from the average person, who might expect a pie to fall from the sky. It's always a good idea to think for yourself and not to be swayed by what the experts or insiders say.

And now, let's talk about the wonderful person Livermore. His end was a bit of a sad one. After making a huge profit of 100 million US dollars in 1929, he became a bit overconfident, once again violated his trading principles, and even tried to control market trends. Sadly, his wealth disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. He filed for bankruptcy just five years later. Livermore was also going through a lot at the time. He had some mental health issues, a broken marriage and his son was disabled. It was a really tough time for him. In 1940, at the tender age of 63, Livermore sadly took his own life in the cloakroom of a hotel. After an inventory was taken, it was found that his assets after death were worth about $5 million, which was a real shame as it was a 95% decrease from his peak. His suicide note was really quite moving. In it, he wrote, "My life has been a failure."

Livermore had a bit of a rocky ride in the market. He went from rags to riches and back again more times than I can count! Livermore was a man who tried his best, but like many of us, he made mistakes along the way. When he went bankrupt, it was often because he let himself be influenced by others, trusted them too much, or craved more wealth and victory. He even tried to control the market! It's easier said than done, isn't it? Even this master who knew the rules of survival in the stock market failed against the market and human nature, not to mention ordinary people like us. But you know what? In the future, when you encounter a major decision, you might as well review these principles left by Livermore, make a rational judgement, and go with the flow.