penny stock risks

Stocks are simply a piece of the pie — a small piece of a corporation. They can be purchased individually from a person who owns the stock or they can be purchased from a market or exchange. In this sense all stocks are the same. Where the term penny stocks comes in and how they are different from what most people think of as stock is the level of safety.

With only so many resources available the Security Exchanges Commission (SEC) can only audit a certain portion of companies every year. While the companies wishing to be on a major exchange pay for their own independent audits as part of being on the exchange, smaller companies do not.

Penny stocks are intriguing to investors because of their low value and the possibility of high gains, but with the possibility of high gains comes a greater risk of scams and fraud. Because these low value stocks can be manipulated by small groups for a profit, they are ripe for unsavory and unethical activity. If you plan on dabbling in this market, it’s important to understand some of the most common scams out there.

The most common scam or form of fraud is probably the pump and dump. Put simply this is where investors looking to cash in promote a specific stock to inflate the price of it, after they have bought shares at an extremely low price (the pump). Once the price is inflated they sell their shares and get out causing the stock prices to fall, leaving unknowing investors with virtually worthless stock (the dump).

But this isn’t the only scam in this market. Another way investors manipulate this market is through chop stocks.

Be careful because penny stock fraud is frequent and pervasive. I don’t mean to scare you away from penny stock trading, however you need to realize that many unscrupulous individuals are out there eager to exploit newbies in this field.

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) estimates that penny stock fraud costs the economy billions of dollars every year. As stocks not on the NYSE or NASDAQ often do not need to fulfill the same standards to trade within Pink Sheets or the OTCBB, they can be much more susceptible to being manipulated and falsified online.

While some microcap fraud may occur on the NASDAQ Small Cap Market, a vast majority of stock fraud occurs in the OTC Market. So proceed with caution and always do your due diligence when trading penny stocks.

On average penny stocks lose value over time. Buying penny stocks and holding on to them is risky for a few different reasons. Finding solid information on these companies is often difficult. The requirements for penny stocks are less stringent than they are for other stocks and often public information on these companies is scarce. They are also quite volatile, and their volatility can be quite difficult to predict. Then there is the complication of volume. Penny stocks are often thinly traded, so it can be more difficult to buy or sell the amount of shares you would like.

So why do people still dabble in penny stocks? If you can learn how to day trade you can reduce the risk of time by not holding onto them for too long and use their volatility to your advantage.

Most consider penny stock trading to be the exchange of stocks at a price between $1 and $5 per share. You’ll also see them labeled as micro cap stocks, microcap stocks, nano stocks or even just small cap stocks. But that doesn’t mean there is less risk involved in this market; in fact these stocks generally carry more risk. That’s why it’s a good idea to practice trading before you start investing real money.

Penny stock trading occurs within the OTCBB (Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board) or on the Pink Sheets. So you’ll also find these stocks labeled as OTC stocks (OTC stands for over-the-counter). They tend to represent smaller companies, newer companies or struggling companies. They either haven’t proven themselves enough to list on NASDAQ or the grand New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or in some cases they’ve been penalized by those exchanges and removed.

There is a common misnomer regarding this type of trading.