Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A Trader Stops Fighting...and Stops Trading

New York

November 28, 1940


A sixty-three year old man walked into the art deco styled Squibb Building on 745 Fifth Street in New York City. The building was ten years old and the home of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel. It was a building of style that proudly stretched thirty-four stories high in prominence.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon on November 28, 1940 when he walked into the spacious vestibule that displayed it’s simplicity with abundant glass, directing his attention to the bright main lobby. The murals, which depicted Manhattan, adorned the ceiling in the lobby, but today he didn’t notice.

He found his way into the cloak room and took a seat near the back. With his right hand he pulled out a .35 caliber Colt pistol and placed it behind his right ear as he clutched the small leather bound memo book in his coat with his left.

He pulled the trigger.

In the leather bound memo book the police found a suicide note. It was a letter to Jesse’s dear wife Nina. In it he wrote:

“I am tired of fighting. Can’t carry on any longer. This is the only way out. I am unworthy of your love. I am a failure.”

Jesse Livermore died that day. He was a renowned stock and commodity trader and was also known as the Boy Plunger. He was a trader from the age of fourteen until he ended his life and was famed for making millions and losing it too. It was the bear markets of 1907 and 1929, that he made most of his fortune selling short the market and hence begot his nickname.

Jesse Livermore stopped fighting that day.

Today, there are more traders then ever before in history. They wake up everyday to evaluate the world and predict the market direction; profit is the motive and the prize they all grasp for is riches

However, trading is combat and if you don’t like to fight…don’t trade.

Jesse chose not to fight anymore… he stopped trading that day.