author Books, Randall Lane, described a story about, how he published Trader Monthly, a magazine for traders in the USA, one of the main products of which was the annual ranking of the hundreds of America's most successful traders - billionaires and multimillionaires, made fortunes on the stock exchange in a short time.
The book also describes Timothy Sykes, which in 2011 visited Russia with a seminar (ticket price 33 000 rubles). Below is a snippet from the book.
Already from the first publication in the fall 2005 years, some self-nominated candidates have tricked their way into the list of the best traders.
For example, один невысокий trader с заискивающими манерами по имени Зэк Майклсон привлек наше внимание, because he ran a hedge fund while still a student, and now managed an impressive amount of money in the rapidly growing company Fortress Investments. Проблема была в том, what, while the list was being prepared for publication, he lost his job and for some reason forgot to tell us about it, even during final reconciliation. Fortress gave Michaelson a phone number and email address prior to final severance pay - a common practice on Wall Street.. Our employees themselves called Fortress with verification, where im, fearing some trick and filing a claim, подтвердили, that he "works" there. When his face flashed among the rest of the list on CNBC, Fortress traders bombarded our office with mocking emails.
However, our worst choice was twenty-three-year-old maniac Tim Sykes. So that the list does not consist of 30 Goldman Sachs traders, the editorial staff usually gave detailed stories about two or three, who have succeeded in an unconventional way. Sykes was great for this category.. He had an interesting story about, how did he turn 12 one thousand dollars, donated to celebrate bar mitzvah, в более чем миллион.
He told this story to everyone, who was only ready to listen, including several of our reporters, and also - at a party, arranged by us for traders in 2005 year, - me.
This event, held in the giant four-story Asprey boutique, British supplier of unnecessary expensive things like umbrellas for 500 Dollars, first editions of leather-bound books or Christmas crackers, filled with silver trinkets, was a turning point for our company. It proved, what's using the mailing list, in which there were already tens of thousands of addresses, we can turn the trading world. One letter - and now 700 traders filled the store, and one of our sponsors, компания Rolls Royce, drives cars to him, to take them home. This was the first chance after the release of the magazine to communicate with our audience..
I had to listen to the praises of traders about Trader Monthly or myself. Among 50 or so traders, with whom I spoke that evening, Sykes had exceptional bragging rights..
- How do I get on your "30 under 30" list? - he asked, without even bothering to introduce myself.
- Trade well and so, so we can verify this.
- According to Barclays, my hedge fund, working long and short with micro shares, - number one in the country, - answered Sykes., using a euphemism for the so-called penny low-liquid shares worth less than 1 dollar. He gave me a business card, from which followed, that he runs the Cilantro Fund (in reality, a million dollars for the fund was raised mainly from friends and relatives).
For all the traders' love of self-praise, such blatant self-promotion was unusual.. But when one of our reporters put him on the list, I didn't really think about that, that Sykes' excessive assertiveness looks suspicious. Moreover, he was so highly quoted in the Barclays rating..
Only later did I learn, that it was not a noble bank with three hundred years of history, second largest in the UK, a Barclay Group, Fairfield small analyst firm, штат Айова, led by some follower of transcendental meditation - one of dozens of adherents of this teaching, escaped to the corn fields, to practice your rituals there and make money in the markets.
Once on the list, Sykes began to run around with him everywhere.. He told his bar mitzvah story to Reuters and CNBC, among others 30 traders less than 30 years, which, after the publication of the list, we provided the TV channel for a week. Then he went even further: CNN, Fox, Internet.
And now he received a new offer. Reality TV has already entered many professions, from chefs to fashion designers and hairdressers; now it has reached the world of traders. Satellite television channel Mojo TV asked us to help make the show "Wall Street Warriors", dedicated to the work of financiers from different sectors. Our two editors, Rich Blake and the savvy trader Andrew Barber, should have been experts, explaining in detail, what is happening in the financial world. We have presented Mojo TV with a list of several traders, which they wrote about.
So Sykes, as if specially made for television, invited the film crew to the living room that served as an "office", чтобы показывать, how he sells there in a dressing gown. We saw, like Sykes, true gentleman, evil calls a losing position "bitch". Like Sykes, respectful son, lets the cameraman into the toilet, where is his mother, kneeling, wipes the toilet. "She is my personal slave", He grins. When she asks him, why do we need handcuffs in the kitchen cabinet, he answers: "Leave me alone, I lost five pieces ". ("He does not care, what will my friends think ", - with a challenge she says to the camera.) Finally, we see, like Sykes, real athlete, invites the film crew to play drunken golf and how he drives an electric car, trying to knock down a deer, and undresses, to get the ball that fell into the pond. ("My goal is to grow my hedge fund and to be taken seriously in the financial industry.", - he said before that.)
But it was even worse to watch Sykes, involves much more responsibility, than managing your, как в случае, for example, with Eric Bolling, whose fascination with television was reflected only in his own account. Sykes' "strategy" could be defined as "confusion and vacillation."; the only thing, in what he was distinguished by constancy, - so it is in squandering money. In one of the episodes, he met in his apartment with a "potential investor" and walked away from the computer, leaving open several short-term positions. While he grimaced in front of the camera, real money of his relatives and friends evaporated in the computer. "Fucking shit, how i missed it?!"He screamed., back to the table.
They, who, по несчастью, entrusted him with money, began to notice something was wrong. We hear, as he tells one of the investors: "Everything is going well, it only takes a little time, for the situation to improve "- after, how his fund lost in a month 300 one thousand dollars. When his words did not convince the investor and he demanded to return the money, Sykes kicked the floor fan against the opposite wall..
"Greed is disgusting, - he said at the beginning of each episode, turning up the collar. - Make so much money, as much as you can, to have time to escape, until she takes you to the dark side ". Glory, как оказалась, can be disgusting too.
PARTIES 30/30
The two most popular events were, targeting young Wall Street professionals. IN 2007 year at the party we organized "40 under 40" about 700 a man crammed into the auction house Phillips de Riga. Two pairs of Carl F watches. Bucherer по 7 thousands of dollars were bought directly from the models showing them. But everything paled compared to "30 under 30"; the event organized by Trader Monthly has become an annual celebration of youth and wealth. IN 2007 year we decided to hold three parties, in Chicago around 300 traders had fun in the trendy Rockit restaurant. Then walked in London's Soho. Finally, the main event took place at New York's Gold Street restaurant with an open veranda, which allowed to put next to, like in a car dealership, brand new BMWs and pitch a tent for cigar lovers.
Remembering the orgy of last year, we have compiled a list of invitees in advance. Those left behind tried to get a ticket by hook or by crook. Already issued invitations are now on sale. Our old friend Tim Sykes tried hardest of all - that, that he took advantage of being in the first list of "30 under 30", to become a participant in a reality show as a jerk trader.
Sykes put me on the mailing list by email, and I watched, how month after month his fund is melting (inter alia, 3 percentage of management fee and 30 - for success). Somehow, drunk in front of the cameras, he drove an electric car into a pond on a golf course, and now (at 24!) wrote his autobiography, which later he himself published. But we created this guy. It was disgusting.
When I got a call from a horny Rachel Pine, responsible for public relations in our magazine, I met advertisers in Miami, who were going to participate in the New York party "30 under 30". Was, Sykes wants to come to her with the telegroup, to try and restore your reputation (to the detriment of our). Hearing about the camera, she gave him a turn from the gate. Then he went on the offensive and began to bombard her with emails and phone calls.. And then me:
Ignore it, and he will lag behind, сказал я себе. But then voice messages began to arrive. Одно, two, three, four, five. Then, hoping to find at least some loophole, he began to harass rating writer Rich Blake, before he started emailing me again.
The carpet bombing continued. Emails, voice messages, телефонные звонки; Rich Blake, Rachel Pine, I. Although I met with him only once and we talked for no more than five minutes, when he asked to be included in "30 under 30", становилось понятно, that it is no longer possible to ignore him, - he would start annoying other employees. So I took out my BlackBerry and wrote him a sharp, Personal letter.
Sykes answered via 19 minutes.
At that, Seemed, history and ended. In the morning I flew to New York. The party went off without a hitch. About 800 молодых, with good bonuses guys drank Johnnie Walker Blue, some from bottles, on which their names were engraved.
But that was not the end. The next day I received an extensive message.
"Heck, yes he is just insane, - posted by Rachel, when I sent it to her. - Who would have thought, that he is simply sick ". Я же был уверен, that we finally got rid of the most shameful result of our activities.
But then I got a call from a reporter for the highly influential Section Six in the New York Post and asked, why did I forbid Sykes to come to the party. He referred to Sykes' letter, what i found strange, because only my name was in the address bar. Where did the leak come from?? Who cares about Tim Sykes? From a conversation with a reporter, it quickly became clear, that the source is Sykes himself. His letter to me was just another press release.
The next day, the New York Post wrote about "the war that had broken out on Wall Street between the influential Trader Monthly and the energetic CEO Timothy Sykes.". Sykes spent the previous day, pushing information about the conflict on financial blogs, to further whet the interest of the New York Post gossips. Wasted hours, while his tiny foundation continued to shed its breath.
Two weeks later Sykes shut it down. His loss from January 2006 to July 2007 exceeded 36 Percent, whereas stock market grew up on 25 Percent. Sykes announced this, как и следовало ожидать, in the press release, explaining the closure not with the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and those minimum standards, which regulated the activities of hedge funds, namely, a ban on attracting inexperienced investors, old women, etc.. “I no longer intend to play by these false rules.. No one should limit my ability to discuss my business, because I am an American entrepreneur. I call it financial freedom ", - said in the statement.
Began 2007 year, and the train with bonuses was carried away without Tim Sykes, who now hardly should have counted on at least some kind of reward.
A source:
