OTC Market

Interpreting the OTC Market is a crucial component of discerning how to buy penny stocks. A majority of penny stocks aren’t listed on a stock market like NASDAQ or the NYSE but instead on the OTC market (or OTC securities market).

NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) controls a little component of the over-the-counter market with the NASDAQ National Market (NNM), but this portion of the OTC Market doesn’t include penny stocks.

Pink OTC Markets, at one time called the National Quotation Bureau (NQB) and colloquially referred to as “Pink Sheets”, operates on the most active component of the OTC market. If you begin earnest and extended penny stock trading, you’ll at some point deal in Pink Sheets. Continue reading

Why Day Trading Penny Stocks May Be Your Best Option

Day trading involves sticking with stocks for the shortest period of time possible to make as many small profits as possible. Day trading often carries a stigma of wild gamblers or genius big shots playing or manipulating a system to make millions, but this usually isn’t the reality of this profession.

In reality the day trader is someone who knows how to make a consistent plan that has proved itself and stick with it. Most day traders prefer highly volatile systems like the options and futures markets, but there is plenty of room in the realm of day trading penny stocks. Here are some reasons you should or shouldn’t day trade penny stocks. Continue reading

Penny Stocks Online

Before you even think about starting to buy penny stocks online, you need to understand what penny stocks are and you need to understand the potential risks involved in trading these off-exchange stocks. Buying penny stocks online can be a lucrative business if you know what you are doing and you understand this specific market, but it isn’t necessarily an easy way to make money fast.

There is a learning curve and a skill to buying and selling penny stocks to increase your income. Among the things you will want to learn is how to calculate the market cap of these investments. Learning how to compute the market cap of a stock can help you determine the dollar shares of all of the shares within the company at a given point in time.

Penny stocks are listed on the OTC market, not on the securities market like many other stocks. Besides learning how to find and monitor them you’ll need to look for a broker to help you facilitate trades if you want to start buying penny stocks. There are a few different types of online brokers from full service to discount and everything in between. When researching online stock brokers you’ll want to evaluate a few different brokers considering their fee structure, services provided and minimum account balances. Continue reading

Buy Stocks Online

One of the most common — if not the outright most common — questions I receive is, “How do I buy stocks on line? I think one of the most important ways to answer this is not with a direct answer but rather with a series of questions that helps the questioner understand the complexity and weight of that question.

In all likelihood, if someone is asking this question they are new to online investing. That can be a very precarious and vulnerable role to play these days, as these Internet waters are infested with fraud-perpetuating sharks. So come along with me as I examine what someone asking about how to buy stocks on line is really asking. Keep in mind the answer to this question can also vary based on what type of stocks you are considering, for example someone looking to get into online penny stock trading may use different tools than someone trying to diversify their retirement portfolio. Continue reading