''Reminiscences of a Stock Operator'' is a 1923

roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...

by American author

Edwin Lefèvre Edwin Lefèvre (1871–1943) was an American journalist, writer, and diplomat, who is most noted for his writings on Wall Street business. Biography Lefèvre was born George Edwin Henry Lefèvre on January 23, 1871 in Colón, Colombia (now ...

. It is told in the first person by a character inspired by the life of

stock trader A stock trader or equity trader or share trader, also called a stock investor, is a person or company involved in trading equity securities and attempting to profit from the purchase and sale of those securities. Stock traders may be an invest ...

Jesse Livermore up to that point. The book remains in print (). In December 2009,

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

published an annotated edition in hardcover, , that bridges the gap between Lefèvre's fictionalized account and the actual people and places referred to in the book. It also includes a foreword by

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

manager

Paul Tudor Jones Paul Tudor Jones II (born September 28, 1954) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, conservationist and philanthropist. In 1980, he founded his hedge fund, Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm headquartered in Stamfo ...

Plot

The book can be divided into three parts: * 1890-1910: Livermore was able to make easy money by taking advantage of the

bid–ask spread The bid–ask spread (also bid–offer or bid/ask and buy/sell in the case of a market maker) is the difference between the prices quoted (either by a single market maker or in a limit order book) for an immediate sale ( ask) and an immediate pur ...

on inactive stocks with leverage of 100-to-1 at bucket shops. * 1910-1920: Livermore was a

on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

, where he went boom and bust several times using high leverage. * 1920s: Livermore engaged in

market manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation is a type of market abuse where there is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the free and fair operation of the market; the most blatant of cases involve creating false or misleading appearances ...

which was not illegal or without precedent then, charging fees of 25% of the market value of the manipulated stock. This was before the creation of the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

in 1934.

Accolades

In his 2008 book, ''

The Age of Turbulence ''The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World'' is a 2007 memoir of former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, co-authored by Peter Petre, a former executive editor at Fortune magazine. Published on September 17, 2007, the book de ...

'',

Alan Greenspan Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...

called the book "a font of investing wisdom" and noted that quotes from the book such as "bulls and bears make money; pigs get slaughtered" are now adages. A March 2005 article in '' Fortune'' listed it among "The Smartest Books We Know" about business. In '' Market Wizards'' by Jack D. Schwager, many investors, including Richard Dennis, quoted the book as a major source of material on stock trading.

References

External links

* {{gutenberg, no=60979
''Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Annotated Edition): with the Livermore Market Key and Commentary Included''
2020 printing/paperback,

Print on Demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...

1923 books Business books Novels about traders Wiley (publisher) books