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Timothy Sykes "Brutally Honest" Thread
- Thread starter Trvlwanderer
- Start date
Heh. I just read that. Interesting story. If only the SEC/FBI could catch more insider scumbags, instead of just goofy mooks like these.Quote from nkhoi:
ET in the news;
"Rumors began to circulate that something wasnât right at Jasper. A week before the indictments were announced, an online-message-board poster named Blue Thunder warned fellow traders on EliteTrader.com: âShady characters running Jasper. Watch out!!!â
If you want to stay up on all the trading news, before it's news (i.e. Vic N, Jasper, etc) You hafta read ET!
Norman Lunden Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Update to the Sykes saga. He has been reported to the SEC for posting on message boards attacks against a company he made a short recommendation against on thestreet.com
How he swindled that side into giving him a podium is anybodyâs guess. I imagine he fancies himself ala Jim Cramer, but where he tries to match Cramer in terms of bluster and self-aggrandizement he lacks Cramerâs obvious deep well of knowledge and ability to educate about the markets which is something Sykes cannot do. I hope Cramer knows Sykes used his site and then bashed the same pick on Yahoo and Raging Bull message boards immediately after to reinforce the chances of success for his short recommendation.
This kid is the sleaziest thing to hit the financial media in a long time and that is saying something.
Just say NO to Tim Sykes.
And if you havenât already seen his now classic laughing stock of Wall Street series of emails published on TraderDaily.com go look them up. They are excruciatingly embarrassing.
Anonymous Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 10:59 am
âI think that someone making $2 million in the stock market by age 22 is a news worthy story.â
$2 million? His claim started out as $1.2 million. Then it became $1.6 million. Now itâs $2 million. But who cares about facts and figures, right? You are pointing distressed college students towards a dishonest, sleazy, 27 year old, washed up day trader who is now dispensing highly imprudent financial advice, in order to gets these students âinterested in investing.â ⦠It seems the ends always justify the means at Young Money. But even the ends in this case are highly questionable. A naive student reading this magazine is not going to go seek out sensible financial advice, instead he is going go buy Timothy Sykesâs day trading DVD and start gambling on illiquid penny stocks with his student loan money in the hopes of making $2 millionâ¦.
Steve Cohen Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I read Sykes book and it is rather boringâ¦yes he is very honestâ¦.but that doesnt make it good/interesting. Itâs like a baseball player who bats .150 writing a book on why he canât hitâ¦..who wants to read that?
Who is Sykes trying to pedal that crappy DVD to? Hopefully not the inexperienced people he says that are the target audience for the book. That would be leading new traders off of a cliff. BEWARE: Sykes has gone from failed hedge fund manager to cheesy snake oil book/dvd salesman.
IF Sykes had any real belief in his trading strategies then:
1) His hedge fund would still be open. (Instead it closed with a loss -37% since Jan2006, and returned an overall return of less than 1%/yr since 2003!)
2) He would still be trading his strategies in the fund. (Instead he wants to make money selling book/dvd to newbies/suckers).
3) In the case where he honestly did not trust his own discipline, then he could hire a REAL trader to properly execute the strategies. (Instead he just quit).
Itâs simple, Sykes put your money where your mouth is. Do NOT take advantage of newbies and suckers by selling garbage book/dvd.
Sykes Be Honest: Tell everybody that even your family no longer trusts you to manage their money!! That fact defines you as NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!
Gerard Alexander Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Iâve been following Timâs blossoming story with great interest and I feel compelled to answer his critics. They really should read the book because he details all his gains on a trade-by-trade basis and ti truly is inspirational. By my calculations, he does make $2 million (the $1.2 million is after-tax). His short recommendation on PRXI was dead on and yes, it appears he did post on message boards afterwards. But, thatâs not against the lawâespecially since heâs a private citizen now, not a hedge fund manager.
So, Tim, keep up the great work, donât listen to these jealous people, youâre an inspirations to us all!
Jim Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Just got done with the book, itâs an amazing read. I discovered the book from this review:
http://www.businesspundit.com/50226...industry_write_a_book_and_shut_yours_down.php
and was not let down. Boy Timâs story really does seem to get people riled up
another trader Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I was neutral on Timothy until I read his post and comments on elitetrader.com. I understand now why so many people dislike him. People respect you not because you are successful or failed in trading, people respect you if you are honest, down to earth and speak from your heart. Timothy put himself where he definitely not belong: by showing his knowledge on trading, starting some business plan to sale his trading ideas and has absolute no good record to back it up in recent years. As a trader in a traderâs community, I felt the same way as everyone else that his is not likeable at all. Who like a person talk all the time, showing off, but cannot do anything to back it up. Doesnât matter in what place or profession, everyone try to get away from people like that. But he just keep on spamming on elitetrader.com over and over, it is like a clown try to catch your attention again and again, and that makes people on elitetrader.com hate him from dislike him so much.
Bruce Freedman Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Sykes book completely fails to realistically convey the relative risks and profit potential for the average wannabe trader. The book never hooked me. I struggled to get through each chapter.
Sykes horrible book is overhyped and embarrassingly bad! There have been so many other blowouts, and unlike Sykes many are actually interesting like Hunt brothers, LTCM, Livermore etc.
There is nothing special about Sykes story and his Hedge Fund failure! Moreover, Sykes book is not a story of someone WHO LOST IT ALL and had GUTS TO carry on and make it all back again.
ONCE Sykes lost his money, he just changed professionsâ¦hahaâ¦.
What a FIGHTER!?..haha. Book is not worth $20 !!
Sebastian Berk Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I canât imagine anyone being jealous of Tim unless they are living in a third world country and suffering from a terminal disease. Yea, his PRXI call was pure genius. He shorted at 14 and covered at 13 and change. Wow, a regular rocket surgeon. No wonder, he has to resort to selling books, that he self publishes. Anyway, I really wouldnât care about Tim, if he was only a failed trader with a bad book and a worthless trading course. There are plenty of guys like that around. What is most annoying about him his is arrogance and constant spamming. Every time, some guy has that he sent a free book to reviews it, we have to hear about it on every trading website. It is endless. He is so insecure, having to respond to every random comment on the web, even if its not directed at him or seeking his opinion. Let me ask you this, if you were confident in your product, would you attack every random critic, doubtful. He also thinks that by being a failure, he has something to teach. He couldnât make him self a good trader, but he can make you one, for a small fee of course.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Update to the Sykes saga. He has been reported to the SEC for posting on message boards attacks against a company he made a short recommendation against on thestreet.com
How he swindled that side into giving him a podium is anybodyâs guess. I imagine he fancies himself ala Jim Cramer, but where he tries to match Cramer in terms of bluster and self-aggrandizement he lacks Cramerâs obvious deep well of knowledge and ability to educate about the markets which is something Sykes cannot do. I hope Cramer knows Sykes used his site and then bashed the same pick on Yahoo and Raging Bull message boards immediately after to reinforce the chances of success for his short recommendation.
This kid is the sleaziest thing to hit the financial media in a long time and that is saying something.
Just say NO to Tim Sykes.
And if you havenât already seen his now classic laughing stock of Wall Street series of emails published on TraderDaily.com go look them up. They are excruciatingly embarrassing.
Anonymous Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 10:59 am
âI think that someone making $2 million in the stock market by age 22 is a news worthy story.â
$2 million? His claim started out as $1.2 million. Then it became $1.6 million. Now itâs $2 million. But who cares about facts and figures, right? You are pointing distressed college students towards a dishonest, sleazy, 27 year old, washed up day trader who is now dispensing highly imprudent financial advice, in order to gets these students âinterested in investing.â ⦠It seems the ends always justify the means at Young Money. But even the ends in this case are highly questionable. A naive student reading this magazine is not going to go seek out sensible financial advice, instead he is going go buy Timothy Sykesâs day trading DVD and start gambling on illiquid penny stocks with his student loan money in the hopes of making $2 millionâ¦.
Steve Cohen Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I read Sykes book and it is rather boringâ¦yes he is very honestâ¦.but that doesnt make it good/interesting. Itâs like a baseball player who bats .150 writing a book on why he canât hitâ¦..who wants to read that?
Who is Sykes trying to pedal that crappy DVD to? Hopefully not the inexperienced people he says that are the target audience for the book. That would be leading new traders off of a cliff. BEWARE: Sykes has gone from failed hedge fund manager to cheesy snake oil book/dvd salesman.
IF Sykes had any real belief in his trading strategies then:
1) His hedge fund would still be open. (Instead it closed with a loss -37% since Jan2006, and returned an overall return of less than 1%/yr since 2003!)
2) He would still be trading his strategies in the fund. (Instead he wants to make money selling book/dvd to newbies/suckers).
3) In the case where he honestly did not trust his own discipline, then he could hire a REAL trader to properly execute the strategies. (Instead he just quit).
Itâs simple, Sykes put your money where your mouth is. Do NOT take advantage of newbies and suckers by selling garbage book/dvd.
Sykes Be Honest: Tell everybody that even your family no longer trusts you to manage their money!! That fact defines you as NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!
Gerard Alexander Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Iâve been following Timâs blossoming story with great interest and I feel compelled to answer his critics. They really should read the book because he details all his gains on a trade-by-trade basis and ti truly is inspirational. By my calculations, he does make $2 million (the $1.2 million is after-tax). His short recommendation on PRXI was dead on and yes, it appears he did post on message boards afterwards. But, thatâs not against the lawâespecially since heâs a private citizen now, not a hedge fund manager.
So, Tim, keep up the great work, donât listen to these jealous people, youâre an inspirations to us all!
Jim Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Just got done with the book, itâs an amazing read. I discovered the book from this review:
http://www.businesspundit.com/50226...industry_write_a_book_and_shut_yours_down.php
and was not let down. Boy Timâs story really does seem to get people riled up
another trader Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I was neutral on Timothy until I read his post and comments on elitetrader.com. I understand now why so many people dislike him. People respect you not because you are successful or failed in trading, people respect you if you are honest, down to earth and speak from your heart. Timothy put himself where he definitely not belong: by showing his knowledge on trading, starting some business plan to sale his trading ideas and has absolute no good record to back it up in recent years. As a trader in a traderâs community, I felt the same way as everyone else that his is not likeable at all. Who like a person talk all the time, showing off, but cannot do anything to back it up. Doesnât matter in what place or profession, everyone try to get away from people like that. But he just keep on spamming on elitetrader.com over and over, it is like a clown try to catch your attention again and again, and that makes people on elitetrader.com hate him from dislike him so much.
Bruce Freedman Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Sykes book completely fails to realistically convey the relative risks and profit potential for the average wannabe trader. The book never hooked me. I struggled to get through each chapter.
Sykes horrible book is overhyped and embarrassingly bad! There have been so many other blowouts, and unlike Sykes many are actually interesting like Hunt brothers, LTCM, Livermore etc.
There is nothing special about Sykes story and his Hedge Fund failure! Moreover, Sykes book is not a story of someone WHO LOST IT ALL and had GUTS TO carry on and make it all back again.
ONCE Sykes lost his money, he just changed professionsâ¦hahaâ¦.
What a FIGHTER!?..haha. Book is not worth $20 !!
Sebastian Berk Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I canât imagine anyone being jealous of Tim unless they are living in a third world country and suffering from a terminal disease. Yea, his PRXI call was pure genius. He shorted at 14 and covered at 13 and change. Wow, a regular rocket surgeon. No wonder, he has to resort to selling books, that he self publishes. Anyway, I really wouldnât care about Tim, if he was only a failed trader with a bad book and a worthless trading course. There are plenty of guys like that around. What is most annoying about him his is arrogance and constant spamming. Every time, some guy has that he sent a free book to reviews it, we have to hear about it on every trading website. It is endless. He is so insecure, having to respond to every random comment on the web, even if its not directed at him or seeking his opinion. Let me ask you this, if you were confident in your product, would you attack every random critic, doubtful. He also thinks that by being a failure, he has something to teach. He couldnât make him self a good trader, but he can make you one, for a small fee of course.
Dave Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Hereâs a guy who is now peddling a DVD on how to trade. One needs to ask themself if he has such great stock picking skills then why doesnât his family and friends give him some money to trade? Heâs claimed that they are already invested with him but have incurred losses from his investment in CYGT.PK (a company trading on pink sheets). One would think that if his trading skills are so sound (and profitable) then investors sitting on losses would be more than happy to give money so that the trader could make profits to offset their losses theyâre sitting on.
Bottom line is that his trading skills have likely not adapted to the changing market â something any successful trader is able to do. Thus, it appears as if his means of making money in the markets have reverted to selling a DVD. Those that âcanâ (trade), do.
I suspect a year from now people will be saying âTim whoâ. His 15 minutes of fame will have vanished as quickly as they came about.
Moron Detector Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I saw Tim on CNBC, when they were having their trading contest. He was asked to recommend a stock. So Tim says, I like XYZ. The interviewer asked why, and Tim said, I like the chart. Interviewer asked but why do you like the chart. To which Tim responded, just look at it, its going up, its a beautiful chart. It stuck in my mind. If you have the urge to buy his book, just take $20 out of your pocket and burn it. Itâs much quicker and wonât scar you mentally.
Howard Kaplan Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I read Sykes mediocre hedge fund book since I knew him at Tulane, and like him as a person. However, the book is an empty and uninspiring story about how Sykes became a self-absorbed irresponsible stock trader. This book is NOT a âclassicâ and story is NOT âRocky-likeâ(as author Sykes claims). This book is basically like a blog of an average person who got lucky trading stocks and then his luck ran out (which it really should be - blog and nothing more).
Beware of all the phony glowing reviews for Sykes Book. Its the good ole boy network in high gear where authors/investment advisers use the buddy system to give fake good reviews to each other.
Sykes put the term âstock operatorâ in title in order to confuse all future book searches for Jesse Livermoreâs excellent story (Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre (1923)). This cheesy trick might help book sales, but needless to say, Sykes has nothing in common with the great trader Livermore.
Sykes comes across like a hyper/immature/video game player-type Trader, which worked for him for a few years; then the law of averages caught up with him. His âreturn to the meanâ continues during the past two years; and his very poor investment strategies are DOWN -37% since Jan 2006. His continuous bad performance throughout 2007 shows that he does not learn from his mistakes; and readers can only cringe while watching Sykes slow motion demise.
Ross Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I concur with the negative commentors above. HE PRESENTS HIMSELF AS SOMEONE WHOSE PRIMARY INTEREST IS HELPING NEWER TRADERS FIND PROFIT, BUT HE USES FALSE ALIASES, LIES THROUGH HIS TEETH AND CONSTANTLY COMES OFF AS SOMEONE WHO IS MUCH MORE INTERESTED IN SELLING HIS WARES, WHETHER OR NOT IT DROWNS NEW TRADERS.
Can you say, âparasite?â
another trader Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I think we can sum it up like this: everyone like people who do more, talk less, not vice versa. Have we see any top trader or investor keep posting on forum every day for every article mention about him/her? No, but we have this guy who is like bottom amature trader keep posting like a old cheap whore consistantly flashing something that cause everyone to throw up.
Jim Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Just saw this on elitetrader.com, posted from Tim:
Daniel,
Timothy Sykes is a con artist. His knowledge of capital markets could be written on a post-it note (the small kind). If you have half a million college students day trading during a bubble market, then at least one will turn $12,000 into $1 million. Now, if you admire dumb luck then thatâs your business. But it is highly irresponsible to present this dart throwing monkey as someone who should be dispensing financial advice to financially distressed college student, as you have done. You ****** up in your role as Managing Editor and now you are trying to control the damage by rationalizing your poor decision on your blog.
LOL Your statements keep getting more ridiculous. Did I con the DJ Newswire into calling my book âpart Reminiscences of a Stock Operatorâ? Did I con MOJO to play my TV show 800 times? Did I con thousands of people into emailing me for more information?
Your whole thesis is based around your misguided assumption that i only made money in the bubble. I donât know how you forget that I made hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Yes, 2006 wiped out my 03,04,05 gainsâdeal with it!
Seriously dude, whats wrong with you? All the media that feature me read my book and they like it. Itâs that simple. Youâre fighting a losing battle here buddy, probly because you donât have all the info. Like a trader whoâs short a stock that just keeps rising. Buy to cover! Buy to cover!
S.C. Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Sykes Be Honest:
Everybody knows that even Sykes own family no longer trusts him to manage their money!! That fact defines Sykes as NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!
Beware: newbies and suckers avoid Sykes garbage book/dvd.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Hereâs a guy who is now peddling a DVD on how to trade. One needs to ask themself if he has such great stock picking skills then why doesnât his family and friends give him some money to trade? Heâs claimed that they are already invested with him but have incurred losses from his investment in CYGT.PK (a company trading on pink sheets). One would think that if his trading skills are so sound (and profitable) then investors sitting on losses would be more than happy to give money so that the trader could make profits to offset their losses theyâre sitting on.
Bottom line is that his trading skills have likely not adapted to the changing market â something any successful trader is able to do. Thus, it appears as if his means of making money in the markets have reverted to selling a DVD. Those that âcanâ (trade), do.
I suspect a year from now people will be saying âTim whoâ. His 15 minutes of fame will have vanished as quickly as they came about.
Moron Detector Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I saw Tim on CNBC, when they were having their trading contest. He was asked to recommend a stock. So Tim says, I like XYZ. The interviewer asked why, and Tim said, I like the chart. Interviewer asked but why do you like the chart. To which Tim responded, just look at it, its going up, its a beautiful chart. It stuck in my mind. If you have the urge to buy his book, just take $20 out of your pocket and burn it. Itâs much quicker and wonât scar you mentally.
Howard Kaplan Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I read Sykes mediocre hedge fund book since I knew him at Tulane, and like him as a person. However, the book is an empty and uninspiring story about how Sykes became a self-absorbed irresponsible stock trader. This book is NOT a âclassicâ and story is NOT âRocky-likeâ(as author Sykes claims). This book is basically like a blog of an average person who got lucky trading stocks and then his luck ran out (which it really should be - blog and nothing more).
Beware of all the phony glowing reviews for Sykes Book. Its the good ole boy network in high gear where authors/investment advisers use the buddy system to give fake good reviews to each other.
Sykes put the term âstock operatorâ in title in order to confuse all future book searches for Jesse Livermoreâs excellent story (Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre (1923)). This cheesy trick might help book sales, but needless to say, Sykes has nothing in common with the great trader Livermore.
Sykes comes across like a hyper/immature/video game player-type Trader, which worked for him for a few years; then the law of averages caught up with him. His âreturn to the meanâ continues during the past two years; and his very poor investment strategies are DOWN -37% since Jan 2006. His continuous bad performance throughout 2007 shows that he does not learn from his mistakes; and readers can only cringe while watching Sykes slow motion demise.
Ross Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I concur with the negative commentors above. HE PRESENTS HIMSELF AS SOMEONE WHOSE PRIMARY INTEREST IS HELPING NEWER TRADERS FIND PROFIT, BUT HE USES FALSE ALIASES, LIES THROUGH HIS TEETH AND CONSTANTLY COMES OFF AS SOMEONE WHO IS MUCH MORE INTERESTED IN SELLING HIS WARES, WHETHER OR NOT IT DROWNS NEW TRADERS.
Can you say, âparasite?â
another trader Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I think we can sum it up like this: everyone like people who do more, talk less, not vice versa. Have we see any top trader or investor keep posting on forum every day for every article mention about him/her? No, but we have this guy who is like bottom amature trader keep posting like a old cheap whore consistantly flashing something that cause everyone to throw up.
Jim Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Just saw this on elitetrader.com, posted from Tim:
Daniel,
Timothy Sykes is a con artist. His knowledge of capital markets could be written on a post-it note (the small kind). If you have half a million college students day trading during a bubble market, then at least one will turn $12,000 into $1 million. Now, if you admire dumb luck then thatâs your business. But it is highly irresponsible to present this dart throwing monkey as someone who should be dispensing financial advice to financially distressed college student, as you have done. You ****** up in your role as Managing Editor and now you are trying to control the damage by rationalizing your poor decision on your blog.
LOL Your statements keep getting more ridiculous. Did I con the DJ Newswire into calling my book âpart Reminiscences of a Stock Operatorâ? Did I con MOJO to play my TV show 800 times? Did I con thousands of people into emailing me for more information?
Your whole thesis is based around your misguided assumption that i only made money in the bubble. I donât know how you forget that I made hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Yes, 2006 wiped out my 03,04,05 gainsâdeal with it!
Seriously dude, whats wrong with you? All the media that feature me read my book and they like it. Itâs that simple. Youâre fighting a losing battle here buddy, probly because you donât have all the info. Like a trader whoâs short a stock that just keeps rising. Buy to cover! Buy to cover!
S.C. Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Sykes Be Honest:
Everybody knows that even Sykes own family no longer trusts him to manage their money!! That fact defines Sykes as NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!
Beware: newbies and suckers avoid Sykes garbage book/dvd.