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HTML Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923)
maxbond wrote 2 hours 3 min ago:
I've read this book a couple times. I like it, but it's important to
understand this is not a book about a stock trader. It's a book about a
problem gambler who happens to gamble on the stock market. One of the
biggest trade in the book is just a hunch the character has, and they
make bank because of an earthquake. Having an act of God rescue your
position is not a strategy.
There's a part where he sets up a trust so that his family will money
the next time he goes bust (which happens constantly in the book), and
tells his wife that he will beg and plead for the money but she has to
refuse him. That feels to me like the behavior of an addict
capitalizing on a moment of lucidity to protect loved ones from their
addiction.
The real Jesse Livermore died penniless by suicide. The book doesn't
address his depression, but I think you do see it in what's not in the
book. They don't really talk about the character's friends. They don't
seem preoccupied with their wife or their children.
WheelsAtLarge wrote 4 hours 32 min ago:
Keep in mind that ultimately Livermore died broke. Trading stocks is a
promise of wealth that's just a mirage. Smart long term investments is
your best way to a wealthy future.
ValtteriL wrote 2 hours 59 min ago:
Died by his own hand, I would add.
readthenotes1 wrote 4 hours 47 min ago:
The bucket shops sound like prop trading companies of today
maxbond wrote 1 hour 59 min ago:
There are still bucket shops, but they call them "binary options
brokers" now. If your broker only makes money when you lose money,
they're not a broker, they're a casino.
agobineau wrote 2 hours 16 min ago:
legal bucket shops is exactly what they are
a market maker (MM) (citadel, optiver) etc makes money in the most
part by filtering a trade from customer, and then agreeing or
disagreeing with its sentiment. If you buy say msft at $480 and they
think it will dip below $480 they will 'hold risk' and wait for it to
dip to say $470 then execute your trade, making $10
except instead of aiming to make 2% on a single trade, they aim to
make maybe 5 cents this way on a $480 stock, mostly holding for less
than a few seconds, on millions of trades an hour
thus, robinhood very valuable because it encouraged retail investors
to have high trading volume on complex instruments. that "order flow"
then sold to MM like above for fixed rates or % shares.
MM are ultimately a good thing because they provide liquidity. there
is always a person willing to take the other side of a trade when you
click. if you trade in a boondocks stock market like singapore or new
zealand you will quickly see the market run dry and you cant get out
of a position
anonu wrote 5 hours 0 min ago:
required reading when youre a young buck starting out on a trading
desk. its a short, quick read. there's 2 key takeaways for me when
comparing today's markets and those of 100+ years ago: market dynamics
are essentially unchanged & human emotions - fear and greed - drive
those market dynamics in the same way.
vajrabum wrote 5 hours 14 min ago:
Supposedly this is a roman a clef about Jesse Livermore's career.
There's a lot of stuff in this book that makes sense of markets in ways
that pretty much no other investing book I've ever read does. Some what
I remember are bucket shops, tape sense, marketing campaigns for new
stocks, risk of ruin (Livermore went bust over and over), and what
amounts to compulsive gambling.
zdc1 wrote 5 hours 7 min ago:
Honestly, nothing's changed. It's more modern; but otherwise all the
same.
intalentive wrote 5 hours 0 min ago:
A big difference is central bank intervention. In the most recent
Market Wizards book, the biggest gains came from traders who traded
CB announcements and rumors.
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