How the World’s Greatest Trader Started at Zero

Jesse Livermore started trading at the age of 15 after running away from home, and made thousands of dollars profit before he was 20 years old. He became one of the world’s trading greats, making and losing several fortunes trading stocks and commodities such as wheat and coffee. He was reputed to have made over $100 million in one day in the stock market crash of 1929, an amount that would be equivalent to billions of dollars in today’s money.

In his day, Jesse Livermore was a larger than life character, with his 300 foot yacht, and opulent lifestyle and was noted as playing the short side of the market on an enormous scale. How did he make so much money, and what can we learn from his life story?

The Dancer Who Became a Millionaire Trader

Nicolas Darvas was a Hungarian refugee after World War II, and subsequently became a famous dancer. He pioneered a trading approach for stocks that turned only $10,000 into $2,000,000 in around 18 months during a bear market in the late 1950s. As well as making him a millionaire, he became a best selling author when he wrote about his trading approach, which uses what is now called Darvas boxes.

How did Nicolas Darvas achieve this back in 1959? What can we learn from his story? This article explores his approach and some of his trading insights.