Jesse Livermore was a legendary trader who played big and made millions during the stock market crash of 1929. Born in 1877 to a family of farmers, he received almost no attention from his father, though his mother was determined to raise him on the finer things in life. By the time Jesse was 3½ he could read and write, and by the age of 5 was reading newspapers and devouring the financial pages. When Jesse turned 14, his father pulled him out of school to make money farming. However, Jesse, who looked like he was in his twenties, was determined not to be a farmer. He he ran away from home and charmed his way into a job as a board boy at Paine Webber for $5 a week. A year later, he decided to take his profits and invest them. He put down $5 at a bucket shop — an illegal brokerage — and in a matter of weeks his earnings exceeded those at Paine Webber. Jesse left the brokerage house at 16 and started trading in Boston’s bucket shops. Eventually, he was permanently banned, though he carried home a small fortune — $10,000 ($400,000 today). Jesse eventually got married and made his way to Wall Street. At 28, he had $100,000, and when San Francisco’s earthquake caused Union Pacific’s stock to go down, Jesse took a chance and bought Union Pacific stock. It was a good bet and he walked away with $1 million ($35 million today). He kept going, investing and investing, until he had a net worth of $100 million. By 1935, Jesse was forced to file for bankruptcy, which would prove to be fatal. On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1940, just after 5:30 pm, Livermore fatally shot himself. Police found a suicide note addressed to Jesse’s wife Harriet, whom he had nicknamed “Nina." It read: “My dear Nina, Can’t help it. Things have been bad with me. I am tired of fighting. Can’t carry on any longer. This is the only way out. I am unworthy of your love. I am a failure. I am truly sorry, but this is the only way out for me.” Today, Jesse Livermore is considered a pioneer of day trading.