Jesse Livermore, Boy Plunger

Book excerpt: Boy Plunger is the first full-length biography of the legendary share trader, Jesse Livermore, the most successful stock and commodities trader in the history of the stock market. He became famous in the summer of 1929 when most people believed that the American stock market would continue to rise forever as Wall Street was enjoyed an eight-year winning run. Jesse Livermore started a process that would see him sell $450 million of shares short inside a four week period. As he had forecast, the three 'black' days, Thursday 24th October, Monday 28th October and Tuesday 29th October, saw the market drop dramatically and in a week Wall Street lost $30 billion of value. Livermore made nearly $100 million and overnight became one of the richest men in the world. It remains, adjusted for inflation, the most money ever made by any individual in a period of seven days.