On Timothy Sykes becoming a stock promoter and promoting IRYS

In case you missed it, Timothy Sykes promoted IRYS this morning in an email to those who signed up to his free promotional email list for the re-launch of his longer-term penny stock trading newsletter. See the email online here. The disclaimer from his email is as follows (bold added by me):

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. Millionaire Media, LLC and Market Authority, LLC, have been compensated one hundred thousand dollars for the distribution of this particular email. Any future email regarding a specific company will be the result of an advertising and promotional campaign for which Millionaire Media, LLC and Market Authority receives compensation. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest, as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this newsletter as the basis for any investment decision. Millionaire Media and Market Authority do not hold positions in the covered company.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a real licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.Market Authority is also not a registered investment adviser. We do not and will not provide personalized investment advice. Market Authority publishes opinionated information about finance and trading that we believe our subscribers may be interested in. Click here to view our entire dilsclaimer.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

[Update 3/5/2011 – See Tim’s blog post about this]

I have to acknowledge my failure in this situation. Tim asked my opinion on him doing an ‘ethical’ stock promotion some time ago. I was vehemently against the idea of him doing that — I felt that he would take a huge hit to his reputation even in a best-case scenario. If the pump were to bomb and his subscribers lost money the hit to his reputation would be huge, I thought. I feel now that I failed and I should have been more against it — I should have said that I would cease working with/for Tim if he did ever get paid to promote a stock.

The fact of the matter is that it is hard if not impossible to have a successful stock promotion without blatantly lying. The whole point of stock promotion is to get suckers to invest in worthless companies so that insiders or other large shareholders can sell their shares. If mostly day-traders buy a promoted stock, then they will buy from the promoters at first but then their sells later in the day will crowd out the sells of the promoters. Longer-term investors will buy and hold for days or weeks or months or years and thus not compete with the promoters to sell stock.

By promoting a stock while not actually hyping it up, the promoter will get fewer buyers (mostly day-traders) and the promotion will do poorly. I believe we are already seeing this in IRYS, where there was a bunch of buying in the first 15 minutes after the open, sending it up from its .755 open to a brief high of .83, before it started fading. The current price action does not bode well for the stock.

If you look at Tim’s email you will see that he didn’t put absurd price targets in it nor did he hype up the company. That makes his stock promotion less unethical than others. It still leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I know more than a few of his subscribers are unhappy with Tim for engaging in any stock promotion.

As to what I did with IRYS, I bought 21,000 shares at the open and sold almost all those shares in the first 15 minutes (I sold my last shares at $0.801 at 10:54 AM EST) . I have no position remaining and I netted just over $870 in profits. I did not mention my buys in Tim’s chat but said I would not discuss my trading of the stock; as with all pumps, I urged everyone to be careful and not to chase the stock. I did alert when I had sold most of my shares and when I sold the last of my shares so that people in chat would think twice before buying it at the elevated prices it was at (over 80 cents). I no longer have a position in IRYS and I will not buy it again (I may short it in the future). I always strive to maintain the highest levels of ethical behavior and I believe that I acted in such a way as to minimize not just any conflict of interest but even the appearance thereof. That being said, I am a trader first and a blogger and chat moderator second — I was not going to avoid trading IRYS just because Tim Sykes was the one pumping it.

Disclaimer: No positions in any stocks mentioned. I have multiple business relationships with Timothy Sykes — please see my terms of use for details. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

152 thoughts on “On Timothy Sykes becoming a stock promoter and promoting IRYS”

  1. Sorry, I meant prosecuted not convicted by the SEC in my last post. It is in response to this: “Just because stock promotion in general can make stock prices go up doesn’t mean it is manipulative from a legal perspective. Actual manipulative trading or blatant lying is required to break the law. Sykes’ actions were 100% legal. Anyone who says otherwise does not understand the law.”

  2. Just sent this out to my subscribers:

    I’m SO excited to release videos about the inner workings of the $IRYS promotion only to these guys http://tim.ly/xzMO4I #whyIdiditduh

    Many of you are complete morons and have faaaar too little faith in me…remember I M THE ONE WHO POPULARIZED SHORT SELLING PENNY STOCKS, NOBODY ELSE DID

    you’d think i would’ve earned a little more trust, too bad for the vast majority of you, you’re gonna remain poor and ignorant until you open yourself to my education

  3. Alan = Billy = Jason = john

    Same IP address, same tone, so I am over 99% sure these are all the same person. Further comments from this IP address or others posting under multiple identities will be deleted.

  4. Gekko = Dave = wakeup = lawyer up pal = larisa

    Same IP address, same tone, so I am over 99% sure these are all the same person. Further comments from this IP address or others posting under multiple identities will be deleted.

  5. I was one of the people that was initially worried about Tim’s promotion and I still am to some degree. After reading both Tim’s post and your own, I’m less worried because I think Tim’s heart is in the right place, but I definitely still agree with you more Michael. I don’t think Tim’s goals to change the industry are realistic, based on the inherent nature of stock promotion.

      1. A friend sent me this blog today, and I am liking this site a lot. I am pretty new to this whole field (penny stocks, Tim Sykes). So I don’t have any intimate knowledge of Tim, etc. But having seen some of his DVDs, and comments on this site he surely strikes me as one conceited, arrogant fella. And to claim that he has a video to explain this IRYS fiasco but that to see it means that you have to sign up (pay him $$) as a student – now that’s taking arrogance to a new level.

  6. Sykes is right, you guys are ignorant… not about penny stocks neccesarily, but about believing his hype…

    I know a little bit about internet marketing (i make a living out of this), and I regularly come across so many half-truths, or blatant untruths, told by Timothy Sykes.

    But consider this…

    1/ Why hasn’t Mr Transparency himself, Timothy Sykes, never publicly disclosed his $12k to $2m tax returns or broker statements? This despite so many asking for it over several years.

    2/ Profit.ly allows users to upload historical data via a spreadsheet… anyone can lie here, including himself.

    3/ Why didn’t Tim publish the receipts he supposedly got from the promoter of IRYS for its upcoming promotion (as he claimed in his blog post)

    4/ Why didn’t he show us the SEC lawyer’s opinions he supposedly got

    5/ Why arent Tim’s top subscribers (his challenge members I am assuming) coming out and supporting him?

    6/ Why doesn’t he show us proof his websites that supposedly made $3.5 million in 2011, when:

    – His submission for “top companies owned by under 30 y.o.” states his company revenue in 2010 was only $750,000

    – Investimonials.com averaged only about 15k unique visitors per month
    in 2011, and the majority of ad space is filled with Google Adsense

    – Profit.ly averaged only around $6k unique visitors per month in 2011

    Tim is not stupid, and this whole controversy could have been put to rest had he published the SEC opinions and promoter receipts (as well as proof he was giving away 1/2 – but why only 1/2?).. If he had what he said, he would have published this by now, not kept it for his “top subscribers” only. But Tim has an ego, and is stubborn…characteristics that all too often bring once successful people crashing down to earth.

    1. You yourself should probably post some evidence of your claims…

      Here are Tim’s traffic stats:

      For timothysykes.com –
      http://siteanalytics.compete.com/timothysykes.com/

      and profit.ly –
      http://siteanalytics.compete.com/profit.ly/

      a johnt is also posting regarding Tim Sykes here:
      http://www.stockhaven.com/timothy-sykes-out-members-with-100000-stock-promotion/

      And just _maybe_ johnt is Tim Sykes brother? 🙂
      http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/NJ888037A/John-T-Sykes.html

      1. Rogomon, YOU should do your homework before challenging my assertions when you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. ANYONE who has a little knowledge of internet marketing knows that a couple of websites generating 10-15k uniques per months, where their sole revenue (or a very high percentage) is from AdSense, makes little income… granted, Profitly and Investimonials sells private advertising space, but a quick look around Investimonials site shows that there are not many advertisers that are paying more than $199/mth, and not many in total.

        As for Tim’s memberships (on his main blog), which i would presume is his biggest income generating. He himself said a while back he had 1000 members (which I highly doubt – given his chat room gets about 150 members as of the last time i checked – compare this with Investorsunderground.com who has about the same or more). Avg revenue for member, say $70 (being VERY generous here but taking into account discounts etc) = $700k/year.

        Please, compare that income with prominent bloggers who not only sell private advertising space, but are also sell affiliate marketers. Many of these sites have 30-100k unique visitors per month. Do your homework, there are a couple I know of that have 40-50k uniques per month, an average article generates in excess of 100 comments, and their DISCLOSED income from all sources is less than $30k per month.

        Again, he disclosed income of $750k in 2010… Rogomon, why dont you explain the $2.7m increase?

        I could go on and on, as I am an internet marketer myself. Maybe i will write a blog and detail everything, but its not appropriate here.

      2. Actually, Tim is an excellent “hate marketer”.

        johnT, did you listen to Mixergy and Foundville interviews? Tim explains it all. johnT, you just prove that you are not a good internet marketing and that you did not make any research before posting your anger. Jealous, humm?

        Haters of your kind don’t help. All the contrary. You make so much irrational noise that the constructive questions and critics drown submerged. What a pity.

        Michael, most commented post ever? 🙂

      3. hmmm whatever yaba, you are drunk… im not trying to prove my skills, but would be glad to compare my tax returns and bank statement against yours… maybe profitly can provide this feature.

        My point is that people believe all the Tim Sykes BS, the numbers he puts out on mixergy are completely erroneous, and I would be GLAD to prove this.

        I know prominent internet marketers with traffic 5-10x his, in a much more popular niche that dont make what he claims to… but whatever, keep believing… Tim is your sheppard after all.

      4. aside from the BS though, i am sure Tim makes great $, and i am sure he didn’t take $100k to promote a stock because he needs the cash… just wish if he was going to make claims like he had 2 SEC lawyers look over it, and received receipts from the promoter, he would publish these… I don’t know who he thinks he is to assume that people should automatically believe him and not question him.

      5. Tim on Investimonials …”It gets 2,000 unique visitors a day all from Google SEO”… ah no it doesnt, Investimonials SEO is not good 1/ anyone who knows how to do an SEO audit will know this, and 2/ it doesnt rank well for keywords (i.e. type in “broker reviews” …. investimonials is near end of second page – and i could go on with other keywords and longtails)… it gets repeat traffic, and word of mouth. period.

      6. Actually, johnT, you don’t get the point. Tim is not a blogger, he is a salesman and he sells educational products (DVD, subscription, book, etc.). Internet is a medium in order to sell his stuff.

        By the way, $3.5 million is not net profit but sales.

        I must correct that I could not find any interview of Tim in Foundville. Just a mention in Howard Lindzon’s interview.

        If you are so succesfull, why do you waste your time hating Tim? Come on.

      7. no dipshit, you miss the point… i am refuting Tim’s revenue claims (as well other other lies). It doesn’t matter whether you call him a blogger, internet marketer or a scumbag salesman… revenue is generated the same way – subscriptions, advertising, digital/real products etc…

        How is exposing/questioning someone “hating” all of a sudden… I am doing you inbred sheep a favor so you can see through his lies and deception.

    2. Show you my lawyer’s emails with me? Ha, no dude, stock promotion is legal, the illegal part if when you make misleading statements…my promotion on IRYS was promoting the promotion that was coming out and you google around, guess what, the promotion did happen and I alerted it first…the bad news is the company did a financing that killed the promotion…thats why we issued a sell alert at .58.

      As for all your other stuff, zzzzzz, yes my company did $750k in revenues in 2010 and $3.5 million in 2011, thats WHY I was named tot he top 100 young entrepreneurs list…I ould point out your ignorant assumptions in each but I have no time for non-subscribers/students sorry…enjoy your confusion though

    3. I have done my research, and the one huge red flag on becoming a Tim Sykes subscriber is that he offers no free trial. He does seem to be an arrogant asshole…idk, for now I’m going to stick with a blog that gives FREE information and has actually helped me tremendously. I lean toward the thought that the majority of his income isn’t from stock, but suckers who subscribe. That’s just my opinion though.

  7. p.s. I am not saying Tim isnt a very good trader, or a good teacher. He is probably good at both, but that doesn’t excuse the tactics he uses to promote himself.

    1. My educating people is priority #1…and I have 5,000+ blog posts and 200+ hours of educational materials for you to go over…after that you’re a smarter/more informed trader of penny stocks…end of story…you’re welcome

      1. And I should mention my upcoming video lessons on the inner workings of the IRYS promotion and my giving away much of the promotion $ will help you all better understand why I did this…until then, continue making ignorant assumptions, I;m used to it and I expected it…just wish I had smarter/more worthy adversaries, this is too easy to pick your assumptions apart.

    2. I’m in no position to argue with you here, but I read Tim’s book a year or so ago(pretty good book actually), and he did say that all of his original trades were documented and put out for his Hedge Fund business to attract investors. i’m sure it’d be super easy for him to dig this up for all to see.

      At this point though, with his many successful trades over the last few years which are all documented one way or the other, does it really matter.

      As far as his marketing; Any sane person running a business would want to use his successful students as a means of attracting more. I’ve been following Tim for almost 2 years and I’ve never been witness to him being blatantly dishonest or outright lying. Now that’s not saying he want exaggerate the truth and big up things, but with his successes who wouldn’t.

      I still think the haters and bashers are once students that got burned on a trade, or something went wrong with a trade, or they thought they’d become instant millionares without actually putting in work. Sadly it, or nothing else works like that in this world. No matter what you do there’s work involved.

  8. Actually IRYS went up 15% for 2 days after I picked it, but I guess you don’t really care about facts do you…well probly about as much as I care about my reputation…I’ll keep educating and doing my thing, people are free to learn if they want…and guess what I’ve been TOO successful so hopefully you’re right and I’ll get to sleep a little more…unfortunately you’re usually wrong so my guess is you’re wrong here too

    1. Tim said: “Actually IRYS went up 15% for 2 days after I picked it, but I guess you don’t really care about facts do you…”

      Doh! How dare you? Are you a revisionist? Sorry but you don’t have the super power of changing history. And facts are more stubborn than you are (as incredible as this may seem).

      Michael said: “.755 open to a brief high of .83, before it started fading”

      Indeed, buying the low point and selling the subsequent high point would have generated +9.9%. Not +15%, Tim, you liar.

      Even if this +15% was true, you should keep quite and be humble because this IRYS is a terrible failure, in your hall of shame, forever.

      Here are the facts
      01-Mar-12 0.8
      02-Mar-12 0.8
      05-Mar-12 0.57
      06-Mar-12 0.46
      07-Mar-12 0.45
      08-Mar-12 0.35

      Not one single up day! Flat then down down down down.

      You should say: “I was wrong, I must apology to all my followers, I made $100,000 in this adventure but you suffer financially because of me, I screwed up, I am so sorry, I will learn my lesson, I swear to you I will not promote any stock anymore, and, from now on, ethics will be my top priority before making money”.

  9. i believe tim is a scammer. so many scammers, here are his buddies like the IL Investors Live.
    i wish i would of known then what i know now. i bought tims dvds and they were useless. i feel sorry for tim. i recommend you do not believe him.
    he was a loser at tennis, he never made it into hedge fund, he lost his money and now he turned evil. teacher? yeah right. he will from time to time find a liquid stock with momentum. but most of time he will get you on illiquid stocks. ive posted comments on investimonials and then he erases them. lebed, IL, all these guys are a joke. and anybody who hangs out with them. please read links below and do your own search.
    if past is indicitive of future performance…..then they will lie cheat scam again. i want no part of them. it makes me throw up when i see there names anywhere, emails.

    http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=15452

    1. “i wish i would of known then what i know now. i bought tims dvds and they were useless. i feel sorry for tim. i recommend you do not believe him.”

      I found the DVD’s I bought to be very helpful, over time I’ve watched PS part Deux many times. Those patterns he lays out in those DVD’s still work to this day. They’ve been very profitable for literally hundreds if not thousands of people.

      “he will from time to time find a liquid stock with momentum. but most of time he will get you on illiquid stocks”

      Like JVA we traded Friday where we all made good profits that some rolled into today, including me. The arguement that Tim trades illiquid stocks is an old one to be honest. He trades a wide range of penny stocks, the breakout and breakdown patterns he comes across baffle me. I still try my best to find these and even though I do sometimes he just makes it look easy, Michael Goode is the same way.

      “lebed, IL, all these guys are a joke.”
      Nate Michaud made over 100k on a trade Friday, I’d love to be a loser I guess.

      As for as the SEC going after him, Michael postted that here on his blog. See the link here;
      https://www.goodetrades.com/2012/01/penny-stock-trader-nate-michaud-settles-with-sec-in-pump-dump-case/

      I stick to my feelings on this, most people that bash Tim and other guys had some bad trades, or just didn’t work hard enough to understand the strategies before sinking to much money into a trade. These patterns aren’t miracle workers, you’ve got to have some trading knowledge to know when something is going bad, and not wait for someone to tell you what to do. Nobody, not Tim, Michael or Nate, would advise anyone to blindly follow a trade, it’s always important to do your own research. Their strategies are guides only, I’m getting kind of tired of the same ole, “well he cheats, or he does this or that”.

      Can someone come up with some serious evidence other than “hesaliercheaterprickandithinkhesucks”?

  10. Have you sheep even questioned Sir Timothy as to why he hasn’t publicly disclosed the SEC lawyer opinions he supposedly got, or maybe the receipts he supposedly received from the promoters showing a big direct mail campaign?

    Or why he hasn’t yet given away 1/2 the money like he claimed he would?

    I suppose Timothy thinks this controversy will just die a quick death and all will be forgotten.

    You gullible creatures are unreal.

    1. Actually filmed a video lesson today showing the legal opinion from 2 lawyers saying its fine and yes the mailers have been received…there is no controversy, its just a promotion, a failed one, one you can learn from…keep trying to bring me down, thats cool, I just made $25,000+ the other day and called it PERFECTLY ahead of time…my students also banked…so you can be bitter and ignorant or you can learn and profit, your choice, makes no difference to me…good luck with the whole assumption thing, hope it works out for you!

  11. “Ethical” pump could be a good designation for Timothy in general. And still don’t get why people would consider him as being transparent. Additionally, now it turns out he is pumping worthless stocks for money. Acctually greed is the thing that describes him the best, imo.
    Though, on the bright, like the investimonials idea.

  12. timmy can’t lose with all those sheep piling in AFTER he trades. This emboldens him to take big positions that he would never take if he didn’t know he could ‘exit’, ‘escape’ into his ‘students’ flow in case the stock doesn’t move his way fast enough.

    there is it . expose’

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