I have a 10 meg cable connection at home.  While it’s up 99% of the time, it will eventually go down for various reasons.  This happened last week while I had a position open.  Luckily that position continued to act the way I wanted but I was not going to risk something like that again.

I got one of these:

I picked up this aircard on eBay.

I picked up a USB Connect 881 aircard on eBay for $100.  They normally are $49.99 with a 2-year contract from AT&T.  Bad news is that the monthly contract is $60 a month.  That is at least $1440 after your contract is up!  However, I went to AT&T and got a pay-as-you go SIM.  The charge for activating the SIM card was $25, but your other alternative is buying a cheap go phone that comes with a SIM card already (the Go Phone might even be free after rebate).  Since I already had an AT&T compatible phone (I had an unlocked Blackjack that I had been using on T-Mobile), I popped my new SIM in there an dialed 611.  You may also call 1-800-901-9878 from any other phone to do this same step.

Follow the voice prompts and go to “Buy Features.”  Navigate to “Media Net” and pick “Unlimited.”  Make sure you “Buy it.”  Once you do that, pop the SIM into your aircard.  Sierra Wireless is the maker of the aircard.  I downloaded a program from their website called 3G Watcher which is responsible for managing the card.  Make sure you add a new connection profile and use “wap.cingular” as the APN and keep the rest of the settings the same.  You should now be able to connect to the internet!

3G Watcher manages your aircard.

Speed test results of AT&T 3G service:

Not bad for a cellular connection.

With this method, you will have mobile broadband speed for $20 a month and no contract.  Your SIM card does not deactivate immediately if you do not add Media Net every month.  You must refill within 3 months since the last refill or your SIM card will need reactivation.  $20 a month has been nothing in comparison to the benefits this provides.  I was actually able to trade from a moving car on a one hour trip to Cincinnati.  Tomorrow I leave for Charleston, SC and I will definitely be bringing my aircard with me on the 9 hour drive.

I will briefly touch on Tim’s book later in the review and focus on the 4 DVDs which are each about 1 hour and 26 minutes long.

Disc 1 starts off with Tim introducing himself.  He gives a little bio that leads to where he is now.  His bio is followed by the introduction of penny stocks and what characteristics define them.

Tim explaining penny stocks characteristics.

Tim then goes into defining numerous terms.  It’s as basic as you can get.  This is the stuff I learned in my 400 level Finance classes in college.  Tim is trying to attract new traders that are from different industries and this section of the DVD is absolutely essential to those without trading experience.  “Learn from the bottom up” as Tim states.  If you are a seasoned trader, this glossary of financial terms can be skipped.

Near the end of the first DVD is where Tim starts getting into rules he follows such as the maximum amount of positions he plays, taking losses quickly, etc.  If you want to learn Tim’s methods, this part of the DVD cannot be skipped like the earlier section on financial terms even if you are a seasoned trader.

Disc 1 ends as Tim introduces you to chart patterns- clean vs. messy charts using stocks Tim has traded in the past.  He focuses on clean charts before the first disc comes to an end.

Tim explains the Clean Cup & Handle

Disc 2 resumes with stock charts.  However, Tim focuses on the “messy” charts here.  This juxtaposition of charts is done to show the viewer how to identify a clean versus messy chart.  Tim’s trading style depends on clean charts so this section is included for good reason.  After showing the viewer the difference between these two categories of charts, Tim dives into patterns he’s identified and played in relation to penny stocks.

Tim's rare but profitable supernova.

Tim further makes comments on playing earnings, technology deals, etc and how they relate to penny stocks.

Discs 3 and 4 are walkthroughs of Tim’s trading year by year.  The important thing here is that Tim relates the lessons he’s learned from his experiences so that this is not just another bio.  He lays out these lessons using more charts of the specific stocks he traded during the year by showing his entry and exit points.

Tim points out the lessons he learned in 2000.

Now the end of disc 4 is probably where this DVD set will need the most repeated viewings.  It is in this section where Tim spells out the lessons he has learned from his gains and mistakes.

Lessons learned by Tim.

Conclusion:

Compared to other trading courses offered online, the $297 asking price for Tim’s DVD is relatively low.  Do you get your monies worth out of it?  I would say that depends on your level of trading experience.  For complete newbs to trading or even penny stocks, this DVD is a must view. It will catch you up to where the penny stock environment is now.  Like Tim mentions multiple times in the DVD, “Don’t just rely on this DVD.  It’s an introduction.”  Seasoned traders will be able to pick up on Tim’s strategy by reading the archive of posts on his blog.  Depending on where you are on your experience of trading, this DVD set is either exceptionally good or just good.  I don’t see where any critic can call this a “bad” production.

Personally, I think this DVD is worth purchasing if you take notes throughout its viewing.  The binder that came with the set is a perfect way to jot down your thoughts as it has the slides that are presented in the DVD.  I commend Tim on his ability to admit his mistakes and you will see this throughout the DVD.  The book that is included, An American Hedge Fund, is an entertaining read and mostly resembles discs 3 and 4 where Tim takes you through his trading years.  I found it helpful to read the book before watching the DVD.

I have several brokerage accounts and I’ve been following Tim’s method for two months exclusively in one of them.  This is the account that is being tracked on Covestor that you can see on the right hand side of this page.  As of this writing, I am currently ranked 3rd on Covestor and I can attribute the majority of that to Tim.  My loses in the market during this two month period are because I did not follow the rules that Tim outlines in this DVD.  I’ve found that I, like most people, like to learn lessons the hard way.

All in all, if you are just starting and have little to no experience in penny stocks, this DVD is a definite buy.  Otherwise, stick to reading Tim’s blog and wait for his new DVD set to come out which promises to get more technical with his strategy.

All screenshots are copyright Bullship Press.  The Pennystocking DVD set may be purchased here.

I told him to text AEO to 466453 (google) and he would get a text back with the quote.  This is a free service from Google.  Try it yourself by sending the ticker symbol to 466453!

Penny stock niche advocate, Timothy Sykes, is blowing away the competition with his trading abilities. It’s important to note here that the competition creeping up on him are his actual Pennystocking (review of his DVD course coming soon) students further proving that smart, educated trading of penny stocks can be done by ordinary people dedicated enough to spend their due diligence in learning how the niche works.

I highly encourage you to sign up with Covestor. As an incentive, “Covestor will shortly enable individuals to invest money directly alongside your portfolio, rather than in underperforming Mutual Funds. The fees charged for this service will be shared with you.”

My Covestor profile can be seen here. I am not ranked yet as Covestor needs more time to calculate my risk numbers. I heard it will take a couple months for this to happen. Those of you already ranked, maybe you can chime in on how long it took for you to show up on the rankings.

If you are trading penny stocks, please take the time to comment with a link to your Covestor profile below.