The Huffington Post ran a really nice story about the one and only Timothy Sykes today. Tim just rolled out a new website, which is kind of a portal for everything related to stock trading. Of course he peddles his book and DVD set there, but he also details his stock trades and teaches others his methods.

Tim is notorious for being arrogant and flamboyant. I see it mostly differently: He has a total passion for what he does and stands up for what he believes in. He is trying to teach others about his craft (shorting penny stocks) and although some may disagree with that as a trading strategy that can work for the common person… I give him kudos for believing in the strategy and teaching others about it accordingly.

And… you’ve got to admit that Tim Sykes makes for some interesting reading. Much of what he does has a ton of entertainment value. (Who would have though that someone in the financial industry could actually have a personality and a flair for entertainment?) I cringe from time to time and have offered some big-sisterly advice, but Tim will have none of it. He’s got a vision and he’s running with it!

From the article:

Sykes, now 27 years old, wants his full $1.65 million back. He started “TIM” (Transparent Investment Management), with the goal of repeating his original feat of turning $12,415 into millions. But now he is bringing his fans along the way with a detailed step-by-step blog. On May 1 Sykes debuted his new site – www.timothysykes.com – which is much more than a blog. He has added everything from TIMtv and TIMradio to even a talking photo gallery! In his first interview since the launch of the site, I caught up with the awesome, young and energized investor just before the new site launched…

And this:

You say: “The digital world has created a new frontier where it’s every man for himself – and there are few rules.” How well do you fit into the hedge fund and investing business. What do your colleagues (whom I assume are much older than you) think of Tim Sykes?

I don’t fit in, I’m not a value investor, I don’t like trading any of the most popular plays–big technology stocks, currencies or commodities–nor have I ever gotten comfortable with leverage. I am a short selling penny stock trader, ironically a combination of the three most derided niches in all of finance (maybe that’s why they work so well together, as in negative x negative = positive.)

My colleagues think I’m a self-promoting fraud, definitely due to my big mouth and all the press I’ve received, much of it inaccurate. That’s why I’m so into blogging all the wonderful details of my strategy and answering all questions – because I have nothing whatsoever to hide. I’ll never stop promoting because this is a great sport, which, thanks to all the snooty, narrow-minded and boring people in finance, isn’t as popular or respected as it should be.

On fraud and corruption:

You wrote: “If we win, we’re richer, and if we lose, we’re wiser.” What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

So true. I personally lost over $300,000 when I got away from my core trading strategy and tried becoming one of the cool kids by investing for the long term. I learned to never trust any company or CEO, there’s a lot more corruption than you ever imagined, and to stick to what works for you, whether or not it’s the most popular route. This loss was incredibly painful–as it was my first and only major one–but it’s made me an infinitely better teacher, wiser and more conservative.

5 Comments

  1. Jeff Bowyer 11/17/2008 at 9:26 pm - Reply

    Timothy Sykes is a hypocrite.

    After I discovered severe corruption at Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, I wrote a fully documented message detailing the allegations, which I posted on Timothy Syke’s website.

    In a very short time, my message was deleted. When I contacted Sykes, his excuses ran the gamut from “the file size was too large” to “the message doesn’t fit the theme of our website” to “you don’t write good enough”.

    Timothy Sykes is not a prophet who exposes “manipulative forces at work in companies, the media, ANALysts, etc.” as he proclaims. Timothy Sykes is a liar who probably works *for* the manipulative forces as a facade of opposition.

    If you would like to receive a copy of my message about corruption at Eurostat that includes graphics, please contact me.

    Jeffrey W. Bowyer
    [email protected]

  2. john 09/15/2010 at 12:03 pm - Reply

    He is a complete hypocrite. His own fund blew up and now he is teaching others. Many of his alerts have contained materially false information on companies and he believes he is above the law. Not so quick Timmy! It’s him that’s doing the manipulating while throwing rocks from his glass house.

  3. DE 08/31/2012 at 9:51 pm - Reply

    Having paid the 50.00 to join Sykes’s chat room hoping to make some good trades on penny stocks since his home page touts that he is a great trader on penny stocks, this is what I found. Timothy Sykes gets you to pay the 50.00 a month then he rants to get you to pay 1500.00 a month to answer your questions.

  4. Rotherhilde 02/23/2020 at 11:45 am - Reply

    Jesse Livermore said that there’s nothing new in speculation, but I think that there is and Tim has found it. I think that Tim has invented pennystocking and that it may be a fraud. Aside from Tim and his students I know of only one pennystocking guru who is selling a course: Ross Cameron of Warrior Trading. His story is similar to Tim’s.

    Our taxable income was $400,000 in 2018 and $500,000 in 2019 from my capital gains in dollar stocks. I have seen most of Tim’s materials on penny stocks and have tried a few penny stock trades myself. My failure rate with penny stocks is 95% whereas with dollar stocks it is only 30%. I think that Tim is hawking his expensive course by trying to convince people that he has a special technique that enables him to do what hardly anyone else can do: make money by trading penny stocks. An effective marketing strategy, but from what I have seen for myself, based on a lie.

    • Tracy Coenen 02/24/2020 at 6:52 am - Reply

      I disagree with your characterization of Tim’s courses. Yes, trading penny stocks is a specialty, and Tim admits that. He also admits that they’re hard to short and that there is a limited supply of shares available to borrow. He tells people straight up that this strategy is not scalable. He focuses on teaching chart patterns and such, and by using his basic strategies and applying it to all sorts of stocks (not just penny stocks) you can be a successful trader.

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