An American Hedge Fund is the story of Timothy Sykes. Tim was a guy who loved the stock market from a very early age. In 1999 he managed to con his parents into letting him invest $12,415 of Bar Mitzvah gift money into the stock market. His parents agreed, thinking he would lose it all and therefore be taught the value of a dollar. Instead, Tim turned that $12,415 into $1.65 million in four years. He became a millionaire at age 22, managed the number one short bias hedge fund from 2003 to 2006 and starred in the TV documentary Wall Street Warriors all before the age of 26.

Not Your Average How-To Book

Unlike 7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex by Grace Cheng, An American Hedge Fund is not a how-to book. While there are how-to information in Tim’s book, the majority of it is dedicated to his trials and tribulations trying to start his own hedge fund. It’s an amazing read. I was fortunate enough to received an advanced copy of An American Hedge Fund a few months ago and I couldn’t put it down. Part of the reason is because the period the book deals in, 1999 to 2003, I was a part of it. Only I was coming at it from the Internet side and Tim was coming at it from the stock investing side.

Like me, Tim rode the dot com boom and made a lot of money by trading tech stocks. Unlike me, Tim rode the dot com crash and made a lot of money by shorting tech stocks. Tim’s stock performance was truly amazing. Between 1999 and 2002, Tim produced an average yearly rate of return of 323%! By comparison, the S&P 500 produced a negative 5.51% during the same period. And Tim did all this while working on his B.A. in Philosophy at Tulane University. He graduated in 2003.

While in his final year at Tulane, Tim started Cilantro Fund Management to try his hand at running a hedge fund. This is where the Cinderella story came crashing down. An American Hedge goes into great detail about the hardship Tim went through while trying to get his hedge fund off the ground. The hedge fund industry is a secret society. Hedge fund managers can’t talk to you about their funds unless you are an accredited investor (someone with a net worth of $1 million or more). These rules were set up by the government to protect us from ourselves.

Freedom of Finance

On October 1, 2007, Timothy closed his hedge fund to tell his story and promote Freedom of Finance, the concept of a hedge fund manager’s right to discuss their business freely without risk of penalty or censorship. Tim’s tell all book is the first shot across the SEC’s bow.

SEC regulations prohibit hedge funds from advertising, talking to the press and detailing our businesses to anybody worth less than $1 million. We comply because in exchange for giving up our rights to freedom of speech, we are allowed incredible investment flexibility.

Unfortunately, unable to speak directly to hedge fund managers, the press has turned to gossip and gutter talk. As a result, the general public considers hedge funds to be the most dangerous investment vehicles around. With these censorship rules in place, it doesn’t matter that less than 5% of hedge funds fail–these 5% are all the public has ever heard about….until now.

Win a Signed Copy of An American Hedge Fund

An American Hedge Fund is one of the best books I’ve read all year. Timothy Sykes serves as an inspiration to all young traders. His story is a must read. You can buy Tim’s book from Amazon.com or you can try your hands at winning one.

Tim sent me a few signed copies of An American Hedge Fund. I will be giving them away in the coming weeks. If you want one, just reply to this post. I’ll pick a random winner this Sunday night. Good luck!