Reminiscences of a Stock Operator ~ Discussing the detail.

Maybe I don't quite understand their margin levels. It seems to me that for the trader, or better, the margin was the same as a stop and spread.. As soon as it was hit, you were out. SB cos aren't as bad as that, surely?. He mentions that if the margin was hit you could throw the slip away.

No, it's not the same with SB's! Although, some might say it's worse because, when the price goes against you the losses keep on growing if there is no stop.

I think, well what I read into it, is undercapitalisation and high leverage and novice traders all with those conditions even today, the bookies I think mostly know the markets gonna test with a draw against a punter position, and im sure the bookies would love the fact that a lot will move their stops down, keep on moving them and then bang. their idea of an original small stop of say 20 points has been closed out at 150 or 200 .

They love them customers, because they are NOT professional losers .

The bookies dont need to be that bad because they know the numbers of novices stacked up are that bad(read new,learning,eager,hasty,unguided,self guided etc.etc), bad and just unknowledgeable. Now what if we had punters who new a bit more and wanted to close their trade out in a jiffy with a nice swift doubling of money in no time?

A Few stories of what happens to those types on these boards, taking advantage of a bucketshops lag.

Jesse knew if he wanted to make some serious money then he needed to change something .

Livermore's career reads like someone who was just taking shots in the dark and was lucky enough to get it right half the time. Surely the truly great traders make a fortune, keep it and add to it, not make it and lose it 3 or 4 times.

Personally I really like the buy high approach because it means that the stock/commodity or whatever is already strong and heading in the right direction from the start of the trade. William O'Neill is another strong advocate of this philosophy and his CANSLIM method strongly advises only buying when a stock is making new highs. Seems to have worked for him too..