The ABC of Stock Speculation
S. A. Nelson · 1902
5.0 · 4 ratings
About the book
The little book that preserved Charles Dow's editorials as a working manual — swings within swings, cutting losses short, the danger of overtrading — a decade before anyone said «Dow Theory». Nelson printed it himself at 16 Park Place; the Street has been rereading it ever since.
Try the short course
Part 1 · Brokers, bourses and the first speculators. The first six slides, free.
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Ask where the word "broker" comes from and the old law dictionaries start arguing. Nelson opens his book by letting them argue.
One camp traces it to a Saxon word for misfortune: the broker as a broken trader, a man who had failed in business and now lived off other people's deals. Another points to French and Saxon roots meaning to break or grind into small pieces, so the broker is the one who breaks a large bargain into particulars and sells it at retail.
Neither origin is flattering, and neither has anything to do with shares. For most of its long life the word belonged to cloth, grain and second-hand goods. The stock market borrowed a job that already existed.
Inside the course
12 parts- Where exchanges and speculators came fromFree above
- Speculation and gambling, told apart
- The morality of Wall Street, considered coolly
- Scientific speculation: Dow's ground rules
Questions
Is The ABC of Stock Speculation free to read in Astra Trainer?
Yes. The full book opens free in the app’s reader, in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.
What is the short course?
12 short parts that walk through the book’s key ideas in slides, each with a quick quiz. The first six slides are free to try on this page.
Where do I get the app?
Astra Trainer is free on the App Store and Google Play. The ABC of Stock Speculation is waiting in the app’s library.
