Jesse Livermore was a professional trader before most people knew you could do such a thing. He made the equivalent of more than $3 billion during one of the worst months in the history of the stock market. Abraham Jormansky, a multimillionaire real estate developer who made a fortune during the roaring 1920s, bed heavily on the surging stock market. After his 1929 blowout, Livermore wound up far over his head in increasing amounts of debt and eventually lost everything in the stock market; he disappeared for two days in 1933.