Sal Starzun of StarzBank: Intergalactic Weirdo?

Thanks for reading today’s review of Sal Starzun of Starzbank

Who is Sal Starzun? And what is he selling? Sal Starzun is a long time trading systems educator and trading systems vendor. His primary focus is trading the Futures markets. You can find many of his trading systems in the TradeStation vendor marketplace.

Currently, Sal Starzun is selling a bevy of trading systems, which proclaim to be “Hedge Fund Style” trading systems. I am not sure what “Hedge Fund Style” actually means, though he appears to convey that if you buy his trading system, then you are using “Hedge Fund Style.”

Of course, “Hedge Fund Style” can mean just about anything. Close to my house, there is a hotdog vendor that offers various varieties of stylish hotdogs. One such hotdog is named the “Hedge Fund Style” hot dog, which is the most pricy hotdog on the menu at $9.99. It contains a strip of fancy French-sounding cheese, organic ketchup, Grey Poupon mustard, and a sprinkle of gold flakes. Delicious “Hedge Fund Style” at a reasonable price.

Perhaps Sal Starzun is describing his personal fashion sense? I googled “Hedge Fund Style” and bingo…I was awarded the following graphic of “Hedge Fund Style.”

Ah, now I get it. “Hedge Fund Style” is meant to convey something ‘more fancy’ than the usual trading system. I guess it means that when you are “Hedge Fund Style,” then you wear expensive Italian loafers with no socks (aka Douchebag Style), or smart looking glasses–but with no prescription lenses.

I think you get the point. “Hedge Fund Style” is meant to convey some sort of exclusivity. But is it just lipstick on a pig?

The Grandest of Offerings for “Hedge Fund Style” Traders

Sal Starzun offers a full buffet of trading systems. In total, there appear to be about 13 trading systems. Each system has yet another fancy sounding title, like: Zone, Solaris, Predator, Cosmos, Pulsar, and Star. There is also a bevy of mystical images of galaxies, starbursts, and other nutty stuff you would find on the wall of a ‘new age’ philosopher or financial soothsayer.

If you stare too long, you find yourself drifting into some sort of “Hedge Fund Style” galactic dream state. Where winning trades begin to appear within the ether. And the smell of incense and reflections of magical crystals warp the senses.

You might even be lulled into the mysticism of Sal Starzun and his mystical trading system. According to Sal Starzun, he was the head of systems trading at the largest bank in London. And which bank is that? No mention. What in the heck is “the largest bank in London” even mean?

There is also some huff puffery about George Soros, and how Sal was the first artificial intelligence trading system developer, and a bunch of unverifiable degrees in Science, Engineering, Chinese studies, etc.

Nothing is tangible. Everything is mystical and magical sounding. To me, as a writer and reviewer of these sorts of products and services…the more mystical and magical something sounds, then the higher the likelihood, that we are dealing with a whack-a-doodle that hasn’t been taking his medications.

Considering that Sal Starzun wants us to pay him $9,900 per month, we need to really dig deep into this dudes underwear drawer. Yes, you are reading that correctly, Sal Starzun wants us to pay him $9,900 per month to be part of his “Inner Sanctum” and has full access to candy store of trading systems.

Contacting Sal Starzun

Before contacting a trading vendor, one of the first things I do, is scrub the internet looking for clues of past shady dealings or outrageous financial offerings.

One thing I find very suspicious about Sal Starzun is a now defunct website named sp500timer.com. You can view the supposed performance records by following this link.

If you took a look at this…well holy virgin Mary, millions in dollars of supposed trading profits! OMG, when is the last time you witnessed something so outrageous? And no losing years! My question to a suspicious audience is simple…who would actually believe this?

Next, I kept digging and found his most recent version of sp500timer.com, which is called Sp500.Guru. If you take a closer look at the newest website, you can see that he has at least toned down the marketing.

After signing up for a free trial, I was then sent an email solicitation to invest in some sort of “private hedge fund” that he is apparently managing. This is interesting because in order to offer a private hedge fund to United States investors, you need to be registered with the National Futures Association as a CTA or Commodity Trading Advisor. You must also register your “private hedge fund” as a public offering.

According to the NFA, Sal Starzun was registered as a CTA back in 2005–for only 9 months. He currently is not registered in any capacity, nor is the “private hedge fund” registered. If it is, I cannot find any such registration.

All of these revelations are interesting. But on the surface, it doesn’t really prove anything. The only way to obtain some sort of proof, was to contact Sal Starzun directly and ask for verifiable Futures account statements.

Using an alias, I then began a series of email exchanges, in hopes of discovering the truth.

Sal Starzun has no verifiable track record

Over the course of a week, I went back and forth with Sal Starzun. I kept asking, over and over, “Do You Have A Verifiable Track Record?” His response can only be described as pretzel logic.

He would parlay with some nonsense about Swiss Hedge Funds, thousands of accredited investors, hedge fund this and hedge fund that. Anything to avoid the hard light of the truth. He simply was not willing to verify anything. He wouldn’t even admit to having a trading account. This sort of stuff drives me crazy.

I wonder why Sal Starzun won’t show his trading records?

Unraveling the mystery

One of my best sources of information is an anonymous Futures broker that goes by the handle “Chicago Broker.” I have no idea who he is. But he seems to know everything about everyone in this crazy business. At one time, he told me that owned one of the largest Futures brokerages in the United States. Another time, he told me that he might have worked for the CFTC and was now retired.

One thing I do know, he loves my stupid blog and loves to feed me information.

I asked “Chicago Broker” if he could find any information on Sal Starzun. About a week later, I got an anonymous email from someone at “Shark Lazers,” which is an anonymous email sending service. You cannot track the identity of “Shark Lazer” email addresses.

Anyway, what he sent was not pretty. Apparently, Sal Starzun had a Futures trading account at Striker Securities. And Striker Securities publicly tracked his individual trading performance from 2015 through 2018. How did Sal Starzun perform trading futures with his mystical trading systems? A net loss of $50,000.

Its no wonder why Sal didnt want to share his live trading account statements? If an investor knew this pertinent information, I think they would have some serious doubts about the supposed performance that he proclaims on his website.

For those interested in verifying this information, I recommend that you contact William Striker at StrikerSecurities.com. His phone number is 800.669.8838 or 312.987.0043. Will is a really open and honest broker, he will verify that every word is the stone cold truth.

Wrapping things up

Maybe Sal Starzun really is a “hedge fund trader” and maybe he has a hedge fund in Lichtenstein. Who in the heck knows. Maybe the truth is more complicated.

However, in my own dealing with Sal Starzun, one thing I do know for a fact…he refused to cooperate regarding his own trading performance. And for me, I would not put a nickel of risk with any supposed trading systems vendor if they had no verifiable track record of ever trading successfully.

And pay $9,900 per month to be part of his “Inner Sanctum?” With such crappy actual trading performance, you will need to be part of the “Inner Sanitarium.”

So proceed at your own peril. Thanks for reading.