The Trader’s Summer Reading Series: Episode 1 — Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Packed full of profound and valuable quotes, this is a great one.

Chris Frewin
Option Screener
4 min readMay 25, 2023

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Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

Option Screener and The Wheel Screener are trader-friendly option screeners that analyze, classify, and categorize all options available on the market on a given day. The team is always more than happy to share their technical insights, market opinions, and methodologies here on Medium. This article kicks off a new series, where founder Chris will be reading trading and market books all throughout the summer. We hope you’ll join us, and we hope you enjoy the article!

This Week’s Book: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator was originally published in 1923 by Edwin Lefèvre, and tells the trading career of one Larry Livermore — a pseudonym for Jesse L. Livermore, who was a real person, and a real trader — and a legendary one at that. This book is often at the top of any “required reading” list for traders and investors, and so we thought it would make a fitting start to kick off our reading series!

The Idea: Learn from the Best Traders to Emulate the Best Traders

As I’ve continued my day trading journey, trading E-Mini and E-Mini Micro S&P contracts, as well as scalping options, I figured it was finally time to get serious about learning from those expert traders who have come before me. Surprisingly, the general sentiment is that many traders, namely the likes of fintwit, haven’t even read a single book on traders or trading! Sure, one could stubbornly struggle and muck through finding their own path in trading — this is often an effective and valuable way of doing it- however this is also an effective way to paying an extremely high ‘market tution’, i.e., losing a lot of capital to the market. While as traders we shouldn’t take tips, biases, or methods directly from anybody ever, we can definitely reflect and learn about the methodologies and mentalities of some of the world’s greatest traders, with the goal of improving our own trading.

We’re jumping the gun a little bit on the ‘summer’ part of the series, but we’ve already got a pile of books stacking up so we’re going to get started already here in May!

Book Takeaways

Without exaggeration: nearly every page of this book has at least one profound phrase or idea printed on it. Here are some quotes that I’ve collected throughout my first read-through:

“You must act instantly or be left.” Page 11.

“The way to make money is to make it. The way to make big money is to be right at exactly the right time.” Pages 108–109.

“Always sell what shows you a loss and keep what shows you a profit.” Page 154.

“Remember that stocks are never too high for you to begin buying or too low to begin selling.” Page ???

A particular passage I found so profound and ringing true to my experiences deserves its own entire section highlight:

The speculator’s chief enemies are always boring from within. It is inseperable from human nature to hope and to fear. In speculation when the market goes against you you hope that every day will be the last day- and you lose more than you should had you not listened to hope — to the same ally that is so potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big and little. And when the next market goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out — too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he must hope. He must fear that his profit may become a big profit. It is absolutely wrong to gamble in stocks the way the average man does.

-Pages 130–131, Larry Livingston, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Simply fantastic prose, sentiments, and emotions I recognized immediately in my fledging trading career. In my case, I’ve never had a problem with quickly cutting losers, but I definitely have a problem with taking profits too early. Indeed, there is a saying that taking profits is never a bad thing, but if you don’t let those winners ride, they can really affect your overall profitability in the long run!

Our Rating

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, our Official Wheel Screener Book Rating™! We’re starting off strong here right out of the gate and had no other choice but to rate Reminiscences of a Stock Operator a full 5/5 star rating:

⭐️️️️️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For a book that is over 100 years (!) old, the sentiments and human emotional aspects of the markets still ring as true as ever. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is simply a must-read for anybody serious about improving their trading technique and understanding the markets.

Thanks & Stay Tuned!

Tune in to the next episode to find out what book we’ll review next!

Until next time,

-Chris & The Wheel Screener Team

We’re on a mission to make options data accessible and a 100% customizable dashboard for any trader, from beginner to advanced.

Interested in learning more? Check us out at Option Screener and The Wheel Screener.

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