Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Chapter 17 summary

What happens

1. The narrator rejects a friend’s black cat story and explains how strong demand lets him sell his large steel holding profitably.
2. He compares trading with medical diagnosis and uses crop estimates, strikes, and weak buying to guide wheat sales.
3. Chester’s failure to follow other motor stocks prompts short selling before the company’s troubles become known.
4. Guiana Gold’s weakness likewise signals trouble before reports of barren rock explain insider selling.
5. After neglecting a cotton short position, he accepts a loss of about a million dollars.
6. When cotton stops rallying after declines, he sells again and covers during a sharp break, nearly recovering his loss.

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