Reminiscences of a Stock Operator Concepts

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

by Edwin Lefèvre and William J. O'Neil · 14 May 1923 · 650pp · 204,878 words

. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Lefèvre, Edwin, 1871-1943. Reminiscences of a stock operator : with new commentary and insights on the life and times of Jesse Livermore / Edwin Lefèvre.—Annotated ed. / by Jon D. Markman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical

…

reclusive and shy, he proved more than willing to share his life’s story with someone of such rich creative talent. The tale that emerged—Reminiscences of a Stock Operator—was without doubt far greater than either could have told alone. In fact, Livermore later wrote his own book about trading, and Lefevre wrote another

…

legal at the time, but Lefevre lets us know that the fine art of ripping off the public was not exactly admirable. Most readers of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator today do not realize that while the Livingston name is fiction, about 90 percent of the other proper names of people and places in the

…

his favorite topics and insights. This was one of them. Writing in Munsey’s Magazine in 1901, some 21 years before the original publication of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Edwin Lefevre said: Professional Wall Street invariably “discounts” events. It lives by foreseeing what is going to happen. It must take time by a long

…

interviewing Livermore was to see if the great bear would confirm his theories on the “unbeatable” game of speculation. In the opening chapter of the Reminiscences of a Stock Operator series of articles in the Saturday Evening Post, which was cut out of the book version of the work, Lefevre elaborates on this in detail

…

Write Novels” New York Times, March 9, 1907, BR142. 4 Robert Whitelaw, Sophocles Translated into English Verse. (Longman, Greens & Co., 1904), 336. 5 Edwin Lefevre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: Illustrated Edition (2005), 10. 6 “Edwin Lefevre, 73, Financial Writer,” New York Times, February 24, 1943, 21. 7 “Sketches of Writers: Edwin Lefevre,” The Writer

…

. Yes, they are interesting to debate, important to know, but always secondary to the tale the tape tells us on a continual basis. SELECTED QUOTES Reminiscences of a Stock Operator has endured as a classic as much because of the richness of its narrative as for the truth of its insights. But if you just

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation

by Andrew Ross Sorkin · 14 Oct 2025 · 664pp · 166,312 words

, father of Carter Glass William Randolph Hearst, publisher of Hearst Newspapers Matthew Josephson, writer who had worked in the financial industry Edwin Lefèvre, author of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator Walter Lippmann, writer, reporter, and political commentator Charley Michelson, Hearst newspaper writer turned Democratic publicist Alexander D. Noyes, financial editor of The New York Times

…

questions no one had asked. He’d graced the cover of Time and had his life story lightly fictionalized in the wildly popular 1923 novel Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Stock market novices and old hands alike snapped the book up, hoping to glean sage advice for making easy money. The first tip Livermore gave

…

the amateur.” Livermore had been encouraged by Edwin Lefèvre, a journalist who covered Wall Street, to write a guide to investing. In 1923 Lefèvre wrote Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, a fictionalized autobiography inspired by the life and trading theories of Livermore. He told Livermore that the masses of small-time investors “cluttering up” Wall

…

close. By early afternoon an even larger crowd began to congregate on the corner. Reporting for The Saturday Evening Post, Edwin Lefèvre—who had written Reminiscences of a Stock Operator—described the scene as a sea of shocked and almost paralyzed humans: “The white faces were growing slimmer and the faces growing whiter. But they

…

Prices Forecast by Livermore,” New York Herald Tribune, March 5, 1929. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT had his life story lightly fictionalized: Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: With New Commentary and Insights on the Life and Times of Jesse Livermore, annotated ed., ed. Jon D. Markman (John Wiley & Sons, 2010). GO TO

…

to the 48-Millisecond Trade,” New York Times DealBook, August 15, 2012. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT “The game taught me the game”: Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Because the prices: Smitten, Jesse Livermore, 132. GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT “In my opinion it would be

…

. Across World Frontiers. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1951. Lamont, Thomas William. Harry P. Davison: A Record of a Useful Life. Lamont Press, 2007. Lefèvre, Edwin. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: With New Commentary and Insights on the Life and Times of Jesse Livermore, annotated ed. Edited by Jon D. Markman. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Lough

…

Whitney brothers and, 413–19 Wilson and, 107 Woodin and, 369 yacht of, 271 Lawrence, Joseph Stagg, 112 Leef, Charles, 400 Lefèvre, Edwin, 173, 209 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, 77, 173, 209 Leffingwell, Russell Cornell, 104, 105, 195–96, 331, 371 Glass and, 361–62, 383–84, 407 Hoover and, 191, 193–94 Lamont

…

, 425–26, 429 lawsuits against, 154–55 marriage of, 174–75 New York Times and, 197–98 press and, 76–80, 86, 245–46 in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, 77, 173 Senate testimony of, 315 short selling by, 82–83, 86, 87, 236, 245 speculation and, 83, 84, 197 stock tickers and, 78–79

…

Corporation, 310, 313, 321 Reed, David A., 334 regulation, 128, 129, 191, 219, 323, 326, 358, 361, 363–64, 444 Reichsbank, 102 Remington, Frederic, 136 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Lefèvre), 77, 173, 209 Rend, Joseph, 256, 381 Rend, William P., 48 Rentschler, George Adam, 431 Rentschler, Gordon, 6–7, 9–10, 225, 226, 228

Hedge Fund Market Wizards

by Jack D. Schwager · 24 Apr 2012 · 272pp · 19,172 words

we may never know the answer for sure, my personal hunch is that the court jester makes frequent visits to the royal library and reads Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, The Crowd by Gustav LeBon, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay, and the entire Market Wizards series

…

to guide their own trading. His work is an inseparable part of the consciousness and language of trading itself. Some 30 years ago, Jack reads Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and notices its meaningfulness and relevance, even 60 years after its publication. He adopts that standard for his own writing. I notice that books that

…

although markets are always changing, because of constancies in human nature, in some sense, they are also always the same. I remember, when first reading Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre nearly 30 years ago, being struck by how relevant the book remained more than 60 years after it was written. I do

…

to read. I went to a local open market where there was a book vendor, and, literally, the only book they had in English was Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. It was an old, tattered copy. I still have it. It’s the only possession in the world that I care about. The book was

Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk

by Satyajit Das · 14 Oct 2011 · 741pp · 179,454 words

seminar, Mary and Greg are signing up for ST’s trading system. I think of the famous speculator Jesse Livermore, immortalized in Edwin Lefèvre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: The sucker play is always the same: To make easy money. That is why speculation never changes. The appeal is the same: Greed, vanity, and

…

, Penguin Books, London: 187. 6. Quoted in “The pop star and the private equity firms” (26 June 2009) New York Times. 7. Edwin Lefèvre (2005) Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, John Wiley, New Jersey: 12. 8. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1973) The Great Gatsby, Penguin Books, London: 188. 9. Alain de Botton (2002) The Art of

…

Can Pay, Allen Lane, London. Randall Lane (2010) The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane, Scribe Publications, Melbourne. Edwin Lefèvre (2005) Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, John Wiley, New Jersey. Michael Lewis (1989) Liar’s Poker: Two Cities, True Greed, Hodder & Stoughton, London. Michael Lewis (1991) The Money Culture, Penguin Books

Market Wizards: Interviews With Top Traders

by Jack D. Schwager · 7 Feb 2012 · 499pp · 148,160 words

little published literature there is on trading. Is there anything you can recommend to people who are interested in trading? I think Edwin Lefevre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator [reputedly a semifictionalized biography of Jesse Livermore, the legendary stock trader] is interesting and captures the feel of trading pretty well, but that book was

…

house on the beach and retire. What source did you learn from before designing your first system? I was inspired and influenced by the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and also by Richard Donchian’s five- and twenty-day moving average crossover system and his weekly rule system. I consider Donchian to be one

…

, 1986). A lot of people laugh at that title, but it is fun reading and you learn a ton. Another book I would recommend is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre [reputedly about Jesse Livermore]. Livermore himself wrote a very good thin volume, How to Trade in Stocks (Institute for Economic & Financial Research

…

will develop feelings of hostility and end up blaming the market instead of trying to learn why you lost. Limit losses quickly. To paraphrase from Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, most traders hold on to their losses too long because they hope the loss will not get larger. They take profits too soon, because they

…

). What other books would you recommend to people? The first book we have our traders read is Edwin Lefevre’s account of Jesse Livermore TQ, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator [Reprinted in 1985 from the original 1923 edition by Trader Press, Inc., Greenville, SC.] I’ve read it at least a dozen times. Anyway, around

Hedgehogging

by Barton Biggs · 3 Jan 2005

, cover it.” Not very helpful, because we were and are value investors. In my agony, I took out and reread passages from my trading bible, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. The book was first published in 1923 and is long out of print, but it can be bought from time to time

…

-148.qxd 136 11/29/05 7:02 AM Page 136 HEDGEHOGGING Listening to Dave, I couldn’t help but think of similar comments in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, which I wrote about in Chapter 3.The protagonist, the Old Turkey, who describes himself as a momentum trader and a student of greed, at

…

Maniacs 197 Baruch wrote that one of his most important rules of investing was to “learn how to take your losses quickly and cleanly.” In Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre, Jesse Livermore says over and over again that you should buy on a scale-up and sell on a scale-down. “Never

…

:A History of Financial Crises, New York: Basic Books Revised Edition, 1989. Kondratieff, Nikolai. The Long Wave Cycle, New York: Richardson & Snyder, 1984. Lefevre, Edwin. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, George H. Doran & Co., 1923. Loeb, G.M. The Battle for Investment Survival, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957. Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and

Flash Crash: A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History

by Liam Vaughan · 11 May 2020 · 268pp · 81,811 words

classroom. A former Liffe trader led classes on economics, markets, financial products, and risk management, and set homework assignments reading classic texts like Market Wizards, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and Steidlmayer on Markets. Goldberg gruffly explained the nuts and bolts of placing and canceling trades using the trading software. Paolo regaled the group with

…

was the point of making all that money if you were never going to spend it? The closest thing to a bible for traders is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre. Published in 1923, it recounts the early life and wisdom of Jesse Livermore, a trading guru who went from watching prices on

…

I read Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys, Scott Patterson’s Dark Pools and The Quants, John Sussex’s Day One Trader, and Edwin Lefevre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, which all proved invaluable. When I embarked on this project at the start of 2018, Nav had already pleaded guilty to spoofing and wire fraud

…

low social class. classic texts: Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager contains interviews with high-profile traders. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1989. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Wiley), first published in 1923, is a fictionalized account of the life of trading legend Jesse Livermore by Edwin Lefèvre. Steidlmayer on Markets: Trading with

…

more. This perpetual gamesmanship: Scott Patterson, “CFTC Targets Rapid Trades,” Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2012. “There is nothing new in Wall Street”: Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 1994). shooting himself in the head: Diana B. Henriques, “A Speculator’s Life Is Still Elusive,” New York Times, September

The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Hardback) - Common

by Alan Greenspan · 14 Jun 2007

first books I read was about the British stock market—I was fascinated to discover that they used exotic terminology like "ordinary shares." I read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, a book by Edwin Lefevre about Jesse Livermore, a famous 1920s speculator whose nickname was the Boy Plunger of Wall Street. Legend had it that

…

Clinton. N e w York: Coronet, 2 0 0 2 . Lazear, Edward P. "Teacher Incentives." Swedish Economic Policy Review 10 (2003): 179-214. Lefevre, Edwin. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Civil Government. London: A. Millar, 1764. w w w .constitution.org/jl

…

3 , 502 government, 15, 256, 264-65, 273, 279, 280, 291,292,372-76,489,502 Reinhart, Vincent, 377 religion, 17, 140n, 252, 271, 272 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Lefevre), 28 Republicans, Republican Party, 58, 75, 86, 96, 1 1 1 13, 122, 148, 158, 208, 211, 221, 222, 2 3 3 ^ 8 , 504

Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

by Antonio Garcia Martinez · 27 Jun 2016 · 559pp · 155,372 words

IPO. Initial Public Offering: A Reevaluation Prices, like everything else, move along the line of least resistance. They will do whatever comes easiest. —Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator MAY 18, 2012 The news coverage surrounding the IPO, even from the supposedly savvy tech and financial press, was a reminder of that harsh lesson

Unknown Market Wizards: The Best Traders You've Never Heard Of

by Jack D. Schwager · 2 Nov 2020

me. It was like Jesse Livermore used to say, “You make your money in the sitting.” [Shapiro was referring to a quote in the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre, whose unnamed protagonist is widely assumed to be based on Jesse Livermore. The specific quote is: “After spending many years in Wall

…

text message. What had caused the abrupt, enormous crash in the stock price? To me, it seemed to be like a play straight out of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. [This classic book on speculation, whose protagonist is widely assumed to be Jesse Livermore, is set in the financial backdrop of an age replete with

…

any books influence the way you trade? It probably took more than a year of trading before I read my first financial book. Which book? Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Did that book influence your trading, and if so, how? It reinforced what I was already doing—most importantly, placing large bets when you had