Jesse Livermore - Boy Plunger The Man Who Sold America Short in 1929

by Rubython, Tom; Jones, Paul Tudor

• ISBN13: 9780990619956
• ISBN10: 0990619958
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2018-04-07
• Publisher: The Myrtle Press

Summary

Boy Plunger is the first full-length biography of the legendary share trader - Jesse Livermore, the man who dominated Wall Street in the twenties and thirties. To this day Livermore remains the most successful stock and commodities trader in the history of the stock market. Livermore became famous in the summer of 1929 when most people believed that the stock market would continue to rise forever. But he, almost alone, did not.
Wall Street was enjoying an eight-year winning run that had seen the Dow Jones index increase 500 per cent from the start of the decade – an unprecedented rise. The Dow peaked at 381 on 3rd September and later that day the most respected economist of the era, Irving Fisher, declared that the rise was “permanent”. Livermore vigorously disagreed and started a process that would see him sell $450 million of shares short inside a four week period.

Two weeks later, the market began falling and rising again on successive days for no apparent reason. This situation endured for a month.

Then came, as he had forecast, the three ‘black' days: On Black Thursday 24th October, the Dow fell 11% at the opening bell, prompting chaos on the markets. The fall was stalled when leading financiers of the day clubbed together to buy huge quantities of shares. But it was short-lived succour and, over that weekend, blanket negative newspaper commentary caused the second of the ‘black' days on Black Monday 28th October when the market dropped another 13%. The third ‘black' day, Black Tuesday 29th October, saw the market drop a further 12%. When the dust had settled, in the aftermath of the 24th to the 29th October, Wall Street had lost $30 billion. Only much later did it become known that the man who had sold short $450 million of shares was Jesse Livermore. Livermore made nearly $100 million in personal profits 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. Boy Plunger is the story of that man.

Author Biography

Boy Plunger is Tom Rubython's first biography of a financier. He wanted to make sure that he wrote a complete biography that covered every facet of the genius share trader's life as well as all of his colourful personal life. Rubython is a former magazine and newspaper editor spanning the worlds of sport and business. For over 30 years he worked in business magazines editing, amongst others, BusinessAge, EuroBusiness and Spectator Business. Then he moved to sport, editing F1 Magazine, BusinessF1 and SportsPro before becoming a full-time biography writer. He wrote his first book in 1995, and there have been more than 20 since. He is best known for his motor racing biographies including Life of Senna, which has sold more than 250,000 copies across the world, and Shunt, the story of James Hunt, which has sold more than 70,000 copies. He also wrote And God Created Burton, the story of the life of Richard Burton, and most recently White Music, the biography of the maestro, Barry White.

Rubython specialises in non-fiction storytelling and is passionate and methodical about the process of writing and researching the definitive biography. He starts with a determination to tell the full story of a person's life, emphasising what is important and de-emphasising what is not, the two skills he believes are the crucial tools of any biographer.

Table of Contents

Boy Plunger Chapter List

Chapter 1 Death by His Own Hand The final meltdown Nov 1940
Chapter 2 The Story Begins An unpromising childhood 1877 - 1890
Chapter 3 The First Trade Paine Webber in Boston 1891 - 1894
Chapter 4 Bucket Shop Heaven Makes first fortune 1894 - 1899
Chapter 5 The Bucket Shop Phenomenon Gambling on shares transfixes America 1880 - 1910
Chapter 6 Marriage and Move to New York The boy becomes a man 1900 - 1901
Chapter 7 Down and Out Back to the bucket shops 1901
Chapter 8 Do or Die: Back to Wall Street A re-learning process 1902 - 1905
Chapter 9 San Francisco Earthquake $250,000 profit in a few days 1906
Chapter 10 A Period of Self Analysis Fundamental change in outlook 1906
Chapter 11 Prelude to a Profit A bearish state of mind 1906 - 1907
Chapter 12 Stock Market Meltdown Credit crisis threatens America Sept - Oct 1907
Chapter 13 Enter Morgan Livermore makes $1 million in a day October 1907
Chapter 14 The Corn Trade Experiment First serious trades in commodities November 1907
Chapter 15 The Life of Riley Buys yacht - luxury lifestyle begins 1908
Chapter 16 Newspaper Notoriety Lady Luck rescues ‘Cotton King' 1908
Chapter 17 Under the Influence: Cotton Fiasco Seduced by Teddy Price August 1908
Chapter 18 Ultimate Betrayal The treachery of Teddy Price September 1908
Chapter 19 Six Lean Years Going slowly nowhere - The lost period 1908 - 1914
Chapter 20 Official Bankruptcy The ultimate humiliation 1915
Chapter 21 Dramatic Return to Form Makes $5 million, pays off debts 1916 - 1917
Chapter 22 War and a Coffee Scam Roasters outwit Livermore 1918
Chapter 23 The Great Escape Margin and short selling under threat 1917
Chapter 24 Divorce, Marriage, Family Dottie steals his heart 1918
Chapter 25 The Effortless Millions Deals galore as he makes $15 million 1919 - 1922
Chapter 26 Respectability is Bought Great Neck house purchase 1922
Chapter 27 The Piggly Wiggly Affair Another day, another controversy 1923
Chapter 28 Legendary Status is Conferred Publication of fictional biography 1922
Chapter 29 Big Offices, Big Staff & Big Money Move into the big time of Wall Street 1923
Chapter 30 Ups and Downs Battle for supremacy with Arthur Cutten 1925 - 1927
Chapter 31 Manipulating a Profit A fortune from Freeport Texas 1927
Chapter 32 Good Times at Great Neck The halcyon years 1925 - 1927
Chapter 33 Shenanigans at Great Neck The bad times start 1928
Chapter 34 Prelude to a National Disaster America binges on shares 1928 - 1929
Chapter 35 Seven Incredible Days Livermore makes $100 million in a week October 1929
Chapter 36 Personal Disaster Home life falls apart 1933 - 1935
Chapter 37 Official Bankruptcy No.2 $100 million seemingly disappears 1934
Chapter 38 Personal Tragedy Ex-wife shoots eldest son 1935
Chapter 39 Partial Recovery The good times are over 1935 - 1940
Chapter 40 Reflections in a Book Understanding the good times 1940
Chapter 41 Reflections on a Life Jesse Livermore's final reckoning 1940
Chapter 42 Postscript Chaos is left behind 2006