As revolutionary as this early-day stock guru’s approach to trading was for his time, in truth, Jesse’s stock trading “secrets” just came down to good, sound basics. His success stands as a testament to the fact that the further we wander away from trading breakout stocks and a simple, disciplined approach to trading stocks, the less success we’re inclined to have. Just how unconventional was Jesse Livermore? Take a look:

• He believed in trading top quality stocks, not “weaker sister” stocks.
• A stock hitting new highs was a signal of a stock’s strength to Livermore, and meant the stock had broken through its overhead supply of sellers. Today, we call this a “breakout stock”.
• He was one of the first stock traders to realize that stocks tend to move in industry groups not in isolation.
• Unlike today’s self-appointed stock pick gurus, Jesse Livermore was a humble student of the market, and never considered himself a master.

Livermore was ever conscious of the part one’s psychology played in achieving stock trading success, so he never spoke about what he was doing to anybody, and actually was known to ask people to keep their stock tips to themselves! He was so protective of his trading psychology that he would not even use the words “bullish” or “bearish,” thinking they would create an emotional mindset that he wanted to avoid.

Three of the rules he followed included:

1. Decide the overall direction of the market, making sure of the market’s overall trend;
2. Probe the market by trading small positions first, rather than rushing in all at once; and
3. Exercise patience, letting a stock’s move play out, while paying attention to all the facts, instead of emotions.

Here are just a few of this legendary stock guru’s ideas on trading breakout stocks in his own words:

• “I absolutely believe that price movement patterns are repeated and appear over and over, with slight variations. That’s because humans drive the stocks, and human nature never changes.”
• “Keep the number of stocks you own to a controllable number.”
• “Take your losses quickly and don’t brood about them. Try to learn from them, but mistakes are inevitable as death.”
• “Only make a big move, a real big plunge, when the majority of factors are in your favor.”
• “Never take a capital loss of more than 10%.”
• “Keep the wind out of your face, and when the market hits the doldrums, getting nowhere, moving sideways, then get out, take a break, have some fun, go fishing. Come back into the market when the wind has picked up again, and the sailing is clear and good.”
• “Every once in a while you must go into cash, take a break, take a vacation. Don’t try to play the market all the time. It’s can’t be done, too tough on the emotions, there is nothing more important than your emotional balance.”
• “Don’t take tips of any kind, no matter where they come from.”
• “Do not be invested in the market all the time. There are many times when I have been completely in cash, especially when I was unsure of the direction of the market and waiting for a confirmation of the next move, it is the change in the major trend that hurts most speculators. They simply get caught invested in the wrong direction, on the wrong side of the market.”
• “The stock market is the greatest, most complex puzzle ever invented and it pays the biggest jackpot.”