When Jesse Livermore made his first stock trade at the tender age of 15, he didn’t hedge his bets. He consulted the charts he’d compiled working as a chalkboard runner in a Boston brokerage firm, and when the figures for the company in question, Burlington, checked out, he went all in, investing everything he had—all $5—in the railroad. Two days later, he cashed in his shares, for a profit of $3.12. It was 1892. Exhilarating, that first taste. The pendulum had begun to swing. Livermore began to roam the streets of Beantown, frequenting its bucket shops, gambling counters that took bets on stocks ... (Read the full story)
