Day Trading Penny Stocks - Here’s How People Make Money
Posted by Sam Lockwood | Filed under Finance
Penny stocks have been around since the 19th century, and they’ve also been a big part of the American investment system ever since they developed. This era is actually the one that gave these stocks their names, as modern penny stocks cost far more than a penny. They average between ten cents and five dollars apiece in modern money. Why don’t we take a look at some of the risks you’ll encounter when dealing in penny stocks, then ways they can help you turn a profit.
Penny stocks are share offerings to investors made by companies either too new or too small to be listed in major stock exchange listings. There’s a big potential for growth for relatively small investments initially, but pump and dump schemes are a real risk in this area. Just like anything else that has to do with the OTC (over-the-counter) market, buyers should remember to beware.
Choosing penny stocks in a reasonable fashion means having the business model of the company selling them independently appraised. This is like buying shares in any other company that’s being publicly traded. It’s important to understand the company’s business model, what they’re doing, who’s competing with them, what they make and what products are being offered.
One of the things that makes penny stocks so appealing is the fact that most of the businesses offering them are extremely simple. One typical kind of penny stock is a mining company that profits only when the price of the material it extracts goes above a certain level. There are also some oil exploration stocks that are valued in the same way.
Penny stocks are rated as a high risk vehicle by the Securities and Exchange commission. Some of the risks you’ll encounter when dealing with these stocks include incomplete and indirect financial reporting, limited liquidity and even complete fraud. People who are playing with a day trading strategy will find that sudden demands for penny stock creates enormous volatility. Penny stocks are hard to short sell for this reason.
The financial reporting guidelines on penny stocks are actually pretty loose. Unlike the national exchanges, not much is required of companies that list this way - in fact, sometimes these stocks will just de list for a few days! In the investment type called Pink Sheets, penny stocks have nearly no regulatory requirements at all, including few to no minimum accounting standards or reporting guidelines.
Because these stocks aren’t standardized and don’t have an generally accepted requirements for accounting, they can be extremely vulnerable to being manipulated or even just plain fraud. People posing as independent observers can encourage people to run up the price, then they sell and de list the stock. This is the classic pump and dump scam.
That doesn’t mean you should be scared away from these kinds of stocks completely. There are plenty of reasonable startup companies, and they need somewhere to start. If you’re able to pick a winner out of them, you’ll get a significant return.
If you have the ability to spot companies that have promise, your payout will be huge. Even if you lose on most of your stock picks, the single winner will be such a big gain that you’ll forget about the ones that didn’t work.
Tags: Finance
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