Reminiscences of a Stock Operator Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter XX Summary

Chapter XX Summary and Analysis

Livingston mentions a famous stock manipulator active in the early part of Livingston's career, James R. Keene, who achieves the upward manipulation of U.S. Steel stock prices in 1901. Livingston laments there are no records of Keene's manipulations to learn from. Though some of Keene's techniques are no longer allowed, Livingston believes Keene would have been successful in any time period because he completely understood the market.

Livingston suggests stock manipulation is less about spreading rumors than it is about having the stock price itself tell traders what they want to see. In general, clients come to Livingston when they wish to sell a large amount of stock for the best possible price, either to bid up the price as high as possible or to avoid a market free-fall as they are in the process of selling it off. This requires finesse, as if people get the sense insiders are...
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