The post below comes courtesy of my friend Blain Reinkensmeyer who runs the very popular Stock Trading To Go blog.

To be a great trader you must be disciplined. Following a set of rules can make the difference between successful story telling versus ruminating on last week’s losses.

Jesse Livermore, one of the best traders of all time, and John Paulson, one of the best traders of the last few years, both have a set of rules they follow religiously. Their success serves as your opportunity to enhance your investment savviness.

Below are the rules of both Livermore and Paulson alongside a bit more background information on who they are (hat tip Minyanville and WSJ).

Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest

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Dan Holland has just interviewed Wall Street chronicler Charlie Gasparino’s. The first few paragraphs of the interview that appeared on RealClearMarkets are published below.

There’s good reason to believe that Gasparino’s latest book, The Sellout, will become the definitive book on the current financial crisis and the events that led up to “The Great Recession.” Spanning three decades, The Sellout pulls no punches in chronicling the rise and fall of excessive Wall Street leverage and risk taking, as well as the cast of colorful characters that ultimately brought the US financial system to its knees. It will hit bookshelves tomorrow [Tuesday].

RealClearMarkets: You sat down recently with Wall Street legend Teddy Forstmann to discuss your new book and the genesis of the mess we now find ourselves in. Forstmann said it all began as a “cold” back in the 1970s and 1980s, and that since

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I have been talking for a time about the US Gov buying its own debt. I do not think they will stop with the QE. They cant. They cant because they will not be able to keep the lights on for one, but also because they cant allow a major financial institution to fail or we have global dominoes and a collapse of the financial system. What does that mean? Hyperinflation at some point. I sure hope you have taken measures to protect yourself. I have and sleep well at night. Hedge manager Sprott sees trouble when easing ends US government is new “dead man walking”, investor says By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) – When so-called quantitative easing by central banks ends, the world economy may slip back into trouble, Canadian hedge fund manager Eric Sprott ...

This post provides links to a number of thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Dan Holland (RealClearMarkets): An interview with Doug Kass, September 21, 2009. Hedge fund manager Doug Kass has been called many different names over the course of his storied and successful, nearly forty-year investing career. Names like the “Bear of Boca”; “The Peerless Prognosticator of Palm Beach”; as well as the “Anti-Cramer.” He’s earned them all. As a noted short seller unafraid to swim against the tide of consensus, he seems to relish his self-appointed role bucking Wall Street groupthink and profiting handsomely from betting against the crowd.

• Intelligent Investing Transcript (Forbes): Jean-Marie Eveillard, September 14, 2009. An interview by Steve Forbes of Jean-Marie Eveillard, is senior adviser of First Eagle Funds.

• Peter Boone and Simon

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German unemployment falls!  RBA disappoints the markets…  China to buy Canadian company…  ISM to print positive? And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! And Welcome to September! Well… Here’s a thought to get our engines started this morning… Bill Bonner of the Daily Reckoning ( www.dailyreckoning.com )had this to add to my ranting about our National Debt going to over $20 Trillion in the next 10 years, due to deficit spending…

“The Obama administration, for example, expects to run $9 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years – and that number is based on a recovery! Imagine what will happen if the economy doesn’t recover?”

Now, that’s a nice comforting thought to start our day right? NOT! WAKE UP! Morning has broken, and the coffee is on… If you are still of the thought that this is all going to end up seashells and

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Geoff Bysshe has been using volume analysis to find the best trading opportunities for 20 years. His experience as a floor trader, hedge fund manager, independent equity trader, and co-founder of MarketGauge, has taught him to make volume a focus in his trading.

I asked Geoff to put together a video presentation for us touching on what he calls “Volume Shortcuts” in which he demonstrates a whole new perspective on finding and defining trading opportunities. He explains…

Most traders look for price patterns to define trading opportunities. More experienced traders will add volume analysis to their patterns to enhance the quality of the trade set-up.

This process generally involves finding price action that meets certain criteria and then looking for the volume to “confirm” the price pattern. This is a time tested method of trading, but…

It is incredibly powerful to do the reverse – let volume patterns define your trading opportunities.

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Several key second-quarter earnings reports could either validate or undercut assertions that the U.S. economy is poised for recovery.

After the Commerce Department reported last week that retail sales fell 0.1% in July from June, and 8.3% year-over-year, retailers will stay in the limelight this week as several high-profile companies report second-quarter earnings. Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), and Gap Stores (NYSE: GPS) are among the big-name retailers set to report.

Meanwhile, the Hewlett-Packard Co’s (NYSE: HPQ) report will provide a further glimpse into the world of technology, and The Home Depot Co.’s (NYSE: HD) results will confirm or counter claims that the recent housing rebound is for real.  On that note, the upcoming economic releases include July housing starts and existing home sales, while the wholesale inflation gauge may show that price pressures are not

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I am expecting a significant stock market correction at any time.

If you’re a regular reader of my columns, that won’t come as a surprise to you. And I’m not alone in that camp either. Analysts, strategists and investment directors all over Wall Street have been hesitant to put new capital into the markets.

For example, one hedge fund manager told me that he just can’t buy stocks at these levels - despite complaints from his partners who expect him to be fully invested.

And a technical analyst friend reports that the vast majority of his institutional clients are bearish.

And why not? We’re still hemorrhaging jobs… housing still stinks… and U.S. retail and food sales plummeted 9% in June, compared with June 2008.

But the market keeps going up.

This is what is known as climbing the wall of worry. Let me explain what this means - and what it means for us when it

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Grow Rich Automatically with the World’s Only Gold-Backed “Cash” The U.S. Treasury Dept. has finally approved the new gold-backed “cash.” And according to gold expert Peter Schiff, this new money, called “Gold Dollars,” is not only the best place for your savings today… it could prove very profitable. Why? Because every “dollar” you hold in your bank account is backed by 1 gram of solid gold, held in Fort Knox-like security. So when each gram of gold goes up in value, so does your cash! (Meanwhile, you can spend your money just like you would regular paper dollars.) For Schiff’s full report, please go here.

U.S. President Barack Obama took a swipe at Wall Street yesterday (Wednesday) as he unveiled a sweeping 85-page proposal to reinvigorate government regulation of the U.S. financial markets by giving the Federal Reserve new powers to supervise the economy. The proposal is part of …

Deja vu all over again… are stocks just following the 2008 playbook?… Bill Jenkins shares his favorite global currency… Gold bugs beware: Gold chart forecasts a sell-off… Yet league of famous funds (and Chris Mayer) are buying up gold stocks… Plus, are we reading this right? A bank bails out the government?

We’re scanning markets of the world today and scratching our heads… haven’t we heard this before? There was a scare at the start of the year – banks were in trouble, the housing market was crashing and unemployment was rising. The S&P fell at a rate unseen in a long, long time. But then,a sucker’s rally! The worst was likely over, they said… stocks were oversold. The U.S. consumer, China and oil companies promised to lead us out of this mess. And of course, the current administration’s new multibillion stimulus

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