BeerDrinker [2140025] —
Original article
An exclusive interview with one of Torn's up and coming young traders on how he made his multi-billions, and how you can too!
How does a player of 190 days have a networth of more than $40 billion? If you're one of Nath's multis, the solution is simple. And if you're a scammer like Perplex-, the answer is to find a player who will blindly give you faction control. But imSkyler is neither of those things. imSkyler is simply one of the top, young, shiny, new envy-inspiring traders in Torn. And today, we're going to find out his secret.
Before we hear from the man himself, let's take a look at imSkyler's Personal Stats, where it quickly becomes apparent how he's made his money. The most interesting information can be found within the Trading and Other sections. At the time of writing, imSkyler has 7,230 trades to his name, which is good enough for fourth on the all-time list. First place is held by sharkeyfive on 9,430, but one imagines that won't remain the case for long if imSkyler continues as he has done.
But trading directly is an inefficient way to make money. That's why imSkyler seems to prefer selling via his bazaar, which has made over $381 billion in profit since he began ($31 billion was added during the week this article was being produced). This places him at 22nd in the rankings, or 21st if you disregard Champion's less than scrupulous acquisition of top spot.
Neither imSkyler's total bazaar customers (8,535) or his bazaar sales (986,967) are good enough to enter the top 50 yet. However, I doubt these facts keep him up at night, not when he's got a networth makes him the 783rd richest person in all of Torn. Having picked up my jaw from off the floor, I somehow managed to summon the brainpower to ask imSkyler the question on all our collective lips: How the hell did you do this?
"I put a hell of a lot of time into and effort into trading and making money... It's possible to make a lot, but without the time, patience, and ability to stick through 3 hours of no trades, or good item finds, on the market, there is nothing to gain. I think that's the main reason for how successful I've been, I'm willing to put in the time necessary to be around, and active, enough to be available to trade most of the day."
Since he lives in Torn's timezone, imSkyler can get in on those crucial city finds at midnight - but his work doesn't end once he's picked up a few freebies. imSkyler sacrifices his sleep schedule to remain awake for five to seven hours after midnight each night, and he now averages roughly half of his day online.
Pictured: imSykler's actual eyeball.
Such a huge networth inevitably takes time and effort to achieve, but imSkyler doesn't really do himself justice in the way he describes his dedication to trading. For a start, imSkyler has boosted his income by spending $150 in real-world cash on 40 donator packs - entirely legitimately of course - with this haul being worth just over a billion at the time of writing.
$1 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to his present networth, so it would be unfair to say that imSkyler acquired his fortune purely through the use of real-world wealth. The young trader used these purchases wisely to boost his fortunes gradually over six months, with hours of dedicated activity the real key to imSkyler's success.
Of course, this effort would mean nothing if he were heading in the wrong direction. imSkyler began as many do by flipping cheap items and training in the gym, all the while reading the forums to try and pick up some extra knowledge. Then, he received a message from the leader of the Fibonacci faction, and this provided him with the guidance he and all young players sorely need.
"They provided free Xanax to help develop and I learned a lot more about the game, and how to properly develop my stats. Baldr sent a very helpful guide for new players to me around this time which helped out
massively. I used the targets in his guide to get to level 15 pretty quickly afterward."
"As soon as I hit level 15, I wanted to be constantly doing premium training/happy jumps. However, I wasn't making enough money to support myself from flying to keep up the cost of eDVD's; It just wasn't possible to earn that money in the time it took me to restack and go for another train."
Pictured: When a stranger offers you pornographic DVDs, never turn them down.
Many newcomers can relate to the feeling of not earning enough money from flying, which is the only way most players can make cash when they hit level 15. However, by perusing the Tutorials & Guides section of the forums, you can find many alternative ways to make cash. imSkyler did just that, and after reading 'A Trader's guide to $1,000,000,000', he started to see trading as a serious way to play the game.
imSkyler kept on top of happy jumps by purchasing three to five donator packs every so often, to ensure his progress remained steady. This tactic became crucial during the early days of his trading career, especially when he made the common mistake of tying up his networth in a handful of expensive items.
"At one point half of my NW was casino passes. I didn't really understand that market too much or realize just how slow they sell. Which is really a problem when it ties up so much money at once. But it was also one of my first very good finds in the marketplace anyway. I got one for 2.3m on the 4th of August."
As a fellow trader, I can attest to this. When starting out, it is important to weigh up the resale potential of an item against its current value. Your networth can easily become trapped in a large stock of items, a stock that may have been cheap to buy, but which eventually becomes an expensive ball & chain that slows down your future progress. The most profitable items are those which sell quickly, as imSkyler explains.
"Most of the time things last less than 10/15s on the market if they are really good buys. Things don't get listed at good enough margins most of the time, so it takes a lot of time and patience to not give up if you haven't found something in the last 2/3 hours."
"No one exactly taught me to trade. I had people I'd talk to, to understand more and get a little advice on an item I was unsure of, before expanding to other stuff... Abdullah helped me a bit actually. Well, a lot after he buy/mugged me. He was the one that made me aware of all the various ways to protect myself from getting mugged"
Pictured: One way to stop yourself getting mugged.
imSkyler's initial strategy was to self-hosp when he was buying items and then list items and fly when he had spent most of his money. However, as a naive newcomer, he was not aware of the lengths some muggers would go to. Just before flying to Mexico one time, imSkyler listed 20-30 Erotic DVDs for sale, with the hope his items would be sold upon his return, at which point he would bank his cash immediately.
Unbeknownst to him, the notorious Abdullah had been tracking imSkyler's flight the whole time. Just a few seconds prior to landing, Abdullah bought his entire stock. And before imSkyler had even reached the departure gate, he had been mugged for a huge chunk of cash, putting a severe dent in his profits. But imSkyler did not retaliate. He did not weep. Instead, he reached out to his assailant.
imSkyler resolved to acquaint himself further with Torn's mug protection mechanics, as described in Proxima's useful forum thread. This incident demonstrates clearly that while traders can be self-made, none can be successful without the insight gleaned from the experiences of others. As well as the guides, many young traders do well by finding a mentor as imSkyler did. A good example would be ralucakiss84, whose rapid rise can be partially attributed to the help and advice they received from dunmugmeh.
Eventually, though, some pupils surpass their teachers, and that is surely true of imSkyler, whose growth has increased exponentially in the past few months. He has achieved this by diversifying his business to include different items, stocks and properties - a quick look at the Private Island listings show he's highly active in this area.
Property selling can be a tough task for those who are new to the game. That being said, most markets are tricky if you aren't properly prepared. imSkyler quickly learned that certain items and markets are incredibly volatile, most notably the Casino Passes which gave him so much trouble early on.
"When I first started trading the price was around 230m, since then I've seen it drop as low as ~170m and as high as 500m. There can be long periods where none of them sell for weeks, during this time the price will gradually drop back down."
"Throughout the year there are various events that can have a direct effect on the markets. Events that require you to attack others, such as Elimination & Dog Tags, will have an effect on the prices of things such as Meds / Cans / FHCs. If you prepare before hand and do your research you can make a lot of money during these times.
The best traders learn how to prepare for crashes and ride them out, while also anticipating spikes which may occur in future. Major and monthly events are often the direct cause of price fluctuations, and new additions may only be announced days in advance. Such things are hard to forecast, but as regards his own future, imSkyler seems pretty certain what he'll be doing come his one year anniversary.
imSkyler joined Torn on May 10th 2018. Within ten days he had a networth of $30 million. One month later it was $180 million. The $1 billion mark was hit as imSkyler celebrated his second month in Torn, swiftly followed by $2 billion at the end of July, $10 billion by the end of August and $20 billion in early October. On thursday his networth was good enough for 904th place in the Hall of Fame. Today, he is 783rd.
imSkyler's wealth is accumulating rapidly. He is one of a legion of young traders who have taken Torn by storm in recent years. Jjinn, a 659-day player, is currently worth over $195 billion, but when he was imSkyler's age he had less than a billion to his name. Likewise, OSA took five months to hit $2 billion but has a current networth of over 100 times that amount. The only player I can see with faster progression than imSkyler is the famous Hildegarde, who was worth twice as much as his younger rival at the same age.
Yet despite a promising start, Hildegarde's progress has stalled of late, while imSkyler seems to be going from strength to strength. If he can maintain this momentum and keep his nose out of trouble, imSkyler has the potential to become one of the richest players Torn has ever seen.
But keeping out of trouble is easier said than done.
Before we hear from the man himself, let's take a look at imSkyler's Personal Stats, where it quickly becomes apparent how he's made his money. The most interesting information can be found within the Trading and Other sections. At the time of writing, imSkyler has 7,230 trades to his name, which is good enough for fourth on the all-time list. First place is held by sharkeyfive on 9,430, but one imagines that won't remain the case for long if imSkyler continues as he has done.
But trading directly is an inefficient way to make money. That's why imSkyler seems to prefer selling via his bazaar, which has made over $381 billion in profit since he began ($31 billion was added during the week this article was being produced). This places him at 22nd in the rankings, or 21st if you disregard Champion's less than scrupulous acquisition of top spot.
Neither imSkyler's total bazaar customers (8,535) or his bazaar sales (986,967) are good enough to enter the top 50 yet. However, I doubt these facts keep him up at night, not when he's got a networth makes him the 783rd richest person in all of Torn. Having picked up my jaw from off the floor, I somehow managed to summon the brainpower to ask imSkyler the question on all our collective lips: How the hell did you do this?
"I put a hell of a lot of time into and effort into trading and making money... It's possible to make a lot, but without the time, patience, and ability to stick through 3 hours of no trades, or good item finds, on the market, there is nothing to gain. I think that's the main reason for how successful I've been, I'm willing to put in the time necessary to be around, and active, enough to be available to trade most of the day."
Since he lives in Torn's timezone, imSkyler can get in on those crucial city finds at midnight - but his work doesn't end once he's picked up a few freebies. imSkyler sacrifices his sleep schedule to remain awake for five to seven hours after midnight each night, and he now averages roughly half of his day online.
Pictured: imSykler's actual eyeball.
Such a huge networth inevitably takes time and effort to achieve, but imSkyler doesn't really do himself justice in the way he describes his dedication to trading. For a start, imSkyler has boosted his income by spending $150 in real-world cash on 40 donator packs - entirely legitimately of course - with this haul being worth just over a billion at the time of writing.
$1 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to his present networth, so it would be unfair to say that imSkyler acquired his fortune purely through the use of real-world wealth. The young trader used these purchases wisely to boost his fortunes gradually over six months, with hours of dedicated activity the real key to imSkyler's success.
Of course, this effort would mean nothing if he were heading in the wrong direction. imSkyler began as many do by flipping cheap items and training in the gym, all the while reading the forums to try and pick up some extra knowledge. Then, he received a message from the leader of the Fibonacci faction, and this provided him with the guidance he and all young players sorely need.
"They provided free Xanax to help develop and I learned a lot more about the game, and how to properly develop my stats. Baldr sent a very helpful guide for new players to me around this time which helped out
massively. I used the targets in his guide to get to level 15 pretty quickly afterward."
"As soon as I hit level 15, I wanted to be constantly doing premium training/happy jumps. However, I wasn't making enough money to support myself from flying to keep up the cost of eDVD's; It just wasn't possible to earn that money in the time it took me to restack and go for another train."
Pictured: When a stranger offers you pornographic DVDs, never turn them down.
Many newcomers can relate to the feeling of not earning enough money from flying, which is the only way most players can make cash when they hit level 15. However, by perusing the Tutorials & Guides section of the forums, you can find many alternative ways to make cash. imSkyler did just that, and after reading 'A Trader's guide to $1,000,000,000', he started to see trading as a serious way to play the game.
imSkyler kept on top of happy jumps by purchasing three to five donator packs every so often, to ensure his progress remained steady. This tactic became crucial during the early days of his trading career, especially when he made the common mistake of tying up his networth in a handful of expensive items.
"At one point half of my NW was casino passes. I didn't really understand that market too much or realize just how slow they sell. Which is really a problem when it ties up so much money at once. But it was also one of my first very good finds in the marketplace anyway. I got one for 2.3m on the 4th of August."
As a fellow trader, I can attest to this. When starting out, it is important to weigh up the resale potential of an item against its current value. Your networth can easily become trapped in a large stock of items, a stock that may have been cheap to buy, but which eventually becomes an expensive ball & chain that slows down your future progress. The most profitable items are those which sell quickly, as imSkyler explains.
"Most of the time things last less than 10/15s on the market if they are really good buys. Things don't get listed at good enough margins most of the time, so it takes a lot of time and patience to not give up if you haven't found something in the last 2/3 hours."
"No one exactly taught me to trade. I had people I'd talk to, to understand more and get a little advice on an item I was unsure of, before expanding to other stuff... Abdullah helped me a bit actually. Well, a lot after he buy/mugged me. He was the one that made me aware of all the various ways to protect myself from getting mugged"
Pictured: One way to stop yourself getting mugged.
imSkyler's initial strategy was to self-hosp when he was buying items and then list items and fly when he had spent most of his money. However, as a naive newcomer, he was not aware of the lengths some muggers would go to. Just before flying to Mexico one time, imSkyler listed 20-30 Erotic DVDs for sale, with the hope his items would be sold upon his return, at which point he would bank his cash immediately.
Unbeknownst to him, the notorious Abdullah had been tracking imSkyler's flight the whole time. Just a few seconds prior to landing, Abdullah bought his entire stock. And before imSkyler had even reached the departure gate, he had been mugged for a huge chunk of cash, putting a severe dent in his profits. But imSkyler did not retaliate. He did not weep. Instead, he reached out to his assailant.
"Rather than I guess taking it too badly, I messaged Abdullah, we spoke for a little bit at the time. He made me more aware of how things like flight tracking can be done extremely easily and is never going to be a completely safe way to list something of value. I asked a little about what is the best way to prevent this in future and blood bags came out as one of the best options at least for me at the time. As long as revives settings are turned off, it's was a safer way for me to sell as I didn't have mug protection at the time."
imSkyler resolved to acquaint himself further with Torn's mug protection mechanics, as described in Proxima's useful forum thread. This incident demonstrates clearly that while traders can be self-made, none can be successful without the insight gleaned from the experiences of others. As well as the guides, many young traders do well by finding a mentor as imSkyler did. A good example would be ralucakiss84, whose rapid rise can be partially attributed to the help and advice they received from dunmugmeh.
Eventually, though, some pupils surpass their teachers, and that is surely true of imSkyler, whose growth has increased exponentially in the past few months. He has achieved this by diversifying his business to include different items, stocks and properties - a quick look at the Private Island listings show he's highly active in this area.
Property selling can be a tough task for those who are new to the game. That being said, most markets are tricky if you aren't properly prepared. imSkyler quickly learned that certain items and markets are incredibly volatile, most notably the Casino Passes which gave him so much trouble early on.
"When I first started trading the price was around 230m, since then I've seen it drop as low as ~170m and as high as 500m. There can be long periods where none of them sell for weeks, during this time the price will gradually drop back down."
"Throughout the year there are various events that can have a direct effect on the markets. Events that require you to attack others, such as Elimination & Dog Tags, will have an effect on the prices of things such as Meds / Cans / FHCs. If you prepare before hand and do your research you can make a lot of money during these times.
The best traders learn how to prepare for crashes and ride them out, while also anticipating spikes which may occur in future. Major and monthly events are often the direct cause of price fluctuations, and new additions may only be announced days in advance. Such things are hard to forecast, but as regards his own future, imSkyler seems pretty certain what he'll be doing come his one year anniversary.
"I will definitely plan to still be trading as this is one of the things I love most about Torn. I will continue building up my capital and reinvesting that back into my account and improving my stats. There is definitely a lot I still want to achieve before I reach a year old such as starting my own TV Network."
"I do plan to keep up my activity for a long time into the future, while it is still feasible for me to do so. At the moment I'm able to always be online and active in Torn while working so that has made it much easier... Eventually, I do hope to be at a point where I'm making enough without the same level of activity to keep up with what I want to do and achieve."
"I do plan to keep up my activity for a long time into the future, while it is still feasible for me to do so. At the moment I'm able to always be online and active in Torn while working so that has made it much easier... Eventually, I do hope to be at a point where I'm making enough without the same level of activity to keep up with what I want to do and achieve."
imSkyler joined Torn on May 10th 2018. Within ten days he had a networth of $30 million. One month later it was $180 million. The $1 billion mark was hit as imSkyler celebrated his second month in Torn, swiftly followed by $2 billion at the end of July, $10 billion by the end of August and $20 billion in early October. On thursday his networth was good enough for 904th place in the Hall of Fame. Today, he is 783rd.
imSkyler's wealth is accumulating rapidly. He is one of a legion of young traders who have taken Torn by storm in recent years. Jjinn, a 659-day player, is currently worth over $195 billion, but when he was imSkyler's age he had less than a billion to his name. Likewise, OSA took five months to hit $2 billion but has a current networth of over 100 times that amount. The only player I can see with faster progression than imSkyler is the famous Hildegarde, who was worth twice as much as his younger rival at the same age.
Yet despite a promising start, Hildegarde's progress has stalled of late, while imSkyler seems to be going from strength to strength. If he can maintain this momentum and keep his nose out of trouble, imSkyler has the potential to become one of the richest players Torn has ever seen.
But keeping out of trouble is easier said than done.
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