What Sets “An American Hedge Fund” Apart?
So far, the entertainment and educational value of books in the finance genre has been compromised by industry regulations, authors’ need to protect their day jobs and the overwhelming lack of creativity in the financial industry. The now $2 trillion hedge fund industry is so locked down that the general public literally has no way of receiving any unbiased, accurate information as industry regulations prevent any insiders from detailing their businesses to the general public, talking to the press, advertising or even having non password-protected websites! These are the dark ages for hedge funds as the amount of freely available information is akin to the state of sex education in America in the 1940s. I am Kinsey. Even though my fund is but a tiny speck in this colossal industry, I hope to open the world’s eyes to financial speculation and hedge funds with my inspirational yet realistic look at this industry through the brutally honest telling of all my experiences. This is an information war that society has been losing; my book, my line of thinking, and my big mouth will be the turning point that will break the enemies lines and finally encourage future generations to partake in our true national sport, finance.
1) Inspiration: When I was in high school, I started trading stocks and literally had no idea what I was doing. My parents thought I’d lose everything very quickly and that the loss would teach me the value of a dollar. They were partially correct as it took 9 years and $2+ million in earnings before I finally did learn the value of a dollar. Now, after my roller coaster ride, I want to give back and help others see what it took me so long to learn. After all, there are now over 10 million people with discount online brokerage accounts and nearly everyone of them dreams about growing their tiny accounts into millions within a few years, but few succeed and even fewer are willing to share all the ups and downs to help inspire and educate others. I am the exception. Thanks to my TV show, I’ve received tens of thousands of inquiries from fans who want to learn more about this business. With this book, they will finally understand that, with enough understanding, patience and dedication, great success is possible.
2) A Real World Case Study: While certainly not the ideal path for everyone, my journey has helped me understand more than I ever thought possible about the stock market, greed, ambition and life. ALL investors, no matter their wealth, should be given a chance to understand ALL the potential risks and rewards of financial speculation and hedge funds. My book is painstakingly honest because I believe that real world experience is the best teaching tool and without complete honesty, the learning process suffers.
3) Focus on Profits AND Losses: Nobody in the finance world has ever detailed their losses before! Everybody has always been too worried about reputation to risk being embarrassed by publicly admitting mistakes. The top market pundits have literally never detailed their blunders, preventing others from learning from their mistakes and in turn condemning people to repeat them. This is sad and I aim to stop this injustice. The best part about starring in a reality TV show is that I now have very thick skin, I don’t get embarrassed. I am proud of my entire journey, my mistakes included, because they’ve actually allowed me to improve as a trader and a human being–my book details it all so that others will finally have a chance to learn from an investment professional’s mistakes.
4) A Fun Book: You don’t make $1 million before your 22nd birthday and not have a little fun…my book is a true coming-of-age story as it’s been a wild ride and only now have I finally matured enough to put it all into perspective. Over the last 9 years, I’ve had more than my fair share of international travel, elaborate parties, celebrity-type encounters, and it all makes for great reading. I already have 150+ blurbs from people saying this is one of the most entertaining finance books they’ve ever read and many of them are reading it from cover-to-cover in one sitting!
5) A Radical Strategy: Most finance books try to come up with new twists on old strategies, everything from value investing, investing in Blue-Chip companies, international investing, investing in commodities, etc. By contrast, I detail Penny Stocks and Short Selling, two niches that have never been detailed, let alone in conjunction with each other. After all, short selling is considered incredibly risky and Penny Stocks are basically thought of as pure gambling. And yet, somehow I combined these two risky strategies to make over 100 times my original investment within a few years while sitting in a bathrobe from my dorm room–I had no “edge” whatsoever. The fact is that everybody considers these strategies risky because nobody’s ever detailed them honestly before. Sure, there’s a ton of volatility and plenty of market manipulation, but the best part is that people can take advantage of these variables once they learn how to play the game. As evidenced by the massive daily trading volumes on these stocks that stretch into the tens, sometimes the hundreds of millions of shares, people have been trying to play the game for years, but they’ve never had any reliable source of information and thus have resorted to discussing these stocks on the ultra-shady online message boards. Through my experiences, I intend to show them all the potential risks and rewards like nobody before me.
Sincerely,
Timothy Sykes
Timothy Sykes, author of the book, An American Hedge Fund, was born in Orange, Connecticut in 1981. He studied Philosophy and Business at Tulane University while turning his $12,415 Bar Mitzvah Gift money into a fully audited pre-tax sum of $1.65 million from 1999 to 2002 before founding his hedge fund, Cilantro Fund Management, LLC in 2003. He went on to graduate with a B.A. in Philosophy from Tulane in 2003. He is also the benefactor of a Tulane University Scholarship, ‘The Timothy Sykes Day Trading Award for the Talented’ that is a unique award in that it is awarded to an deserving Tulane student, faculty, or alumni. In 2006, Timothy’s hedge fund was ranked the #1 Short-Bias Fund by Barclays for 2003-2006 and he was named to Trader Monthly’s 2006 ‘Top 30 under 30’, a list recognizing the top 30 investment professionals under the age of 30.
He recently debuted as a keynote speaker alongside industry legends Steve Nison and Larry McMillan and starred in the television documentary, Wall Street Warriors on MOJO. He has been featured in Reuters, CBS, CNN, CNBC, Business Week, CBS Market Watch, FOX News, MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes.com, Hedgefund.net, Hedgeco.net, Institutional Investor, Page Six, Gawker.com, Dealbreaker.com, Salon.com, The Kirk Report, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, The New York Times, The New York Observer, Trader Monthly, Realhoboken.com, Dealbook, Alternative Universe and Absolute Return Magazine. Fore more press, please visit HERE.
