Morcash, good questions. The longer I trade, and the more people I get to know here on Ihub, the more trading styles I see. Irishbull, for example, is excellent at finding chart bottoms, and locating bottom busters ready to bounce. He's been around a while, and knows the behavior and patterns of many plays, which is invaluable. He knows stocks that have a history of running, and where their historic bottoms are. That by itself is one area a trader could focus on, and do well. Wang, on the other hand, is a master at scalping, and one of the best at timing chart bottoms, and most importantly, exits. Rig and Lowman are wizzes at finding long term plays with excellent fundamentals, that grow slowly over time. They put in hours of research, calling the companies, tracking their developments, and the patience pays off.
Then you have posters like Fringe, Merci, Dart1961, Piesky, Manysevens, Fourwinns, Chartinator, Missy, PennyTA, Charting God, and so many others on Ihub who are excellent chartists, and have an uncanny ability to locate stocks that are primed for a rebound. Others are pure momentum traders, and simply have a knack for locating stocks in motion, and riding the wave, without ever knowing a thing about the company involved. Yet others, like PDC and SSP, look for filings, and have the temperment of forensic detectives. Instead of loading the boat on any one stock, they have dozens of stocks, and are willing to wait for one of them to pop. Still others like Strongus2006 and Brikk go heavier into subbie stocks like ETIM, CHNW, or PNMS, and wait for the slow and steady ascent to make their money. I don't mean to leave anyone out of this list, these are just a few that came to mind as I was typing.
Everyone needs to identify their style, assess their patience level, their trigger reflexes, etc. This can take 6 months, in my experience, assuming you trade regularly.
It also takes time to get to know what sources are reliable, what certain phrases mean in posts, how to interpret what a PR is saying, (and identifying which ones are fluff to be discounted on sight), which trading groups are operating, and what their effect may be on stocks. There is no substitute for day in, day out experience. I wish there were a way to do a mind-meld or brain dump of data, but as of now, there isn't one.
So, until you find your style, I always say to play SMALL sums that represent 1/20th or less of your total trading budget. You WILL lose money. That is a fact. But, if you learn to read the l2s, understand charts, and tell decent companies from diluting pigs, your wins will in time outnumber your losses. You'll also get to recognize losers faster, and cut your losses sooner. That alone is essential. For every 20% loss, remember you need a stock that goes up at least 40% to bring you back to par.
Thanks for the compliment on the board. I try my best to keep it pump free, but the reality of it is that 80% of penny stocks are either being promoted, or spammed.
I have certain posters who will PM me and say "Stock XYZR" is a pump stock....why are you posting on it.
To which I have three responses:
1) Many times I don't even know a stock is a board pump. I often find stocks because they're running with volume on my scanner. I am so busy posting, trading and scanning, I don't have the time to do a message board search for every single stock I find before I post it. That's why I always ask readers to let me know if a stock is being promoted by Shakerzz, Sharkster, or spam. It's not a deal breaker for me, I just want to know, so I know how to play the trade.
2) 80% of all stocks are promoted in some way. If I were to avoid mentioning all promoted stocks, it would be a very quiet board, mostly talking about stocks that trade 5000-1000 shares a day. Maybe those stocks have a future, maybe not, but in my experience, penny traders are here because they want oversized gains, not sleepy microcaps.
If people wanted total safety and legitimacy, they would be playing big board stocks. I am not going to cure anyone of the penny habit. The best I can do is show them a few pointers as to how to play them a little more safely.
3) I do post on promo/spam stocks, but I identify them as such, and I am also quick to mention when trouble market makers show up on the ask and/or bid. That is something a paid promoter cannot do, as they would be scolded by their masters.
Promoted stocks aren't a deal breaker to me, however I do always warn pYople to takY their profyts early,;and get outearly, be[ause the st{ck will alwqys collapsewhen the moYentum tradezs exit, azd there is Xhe inevitabXe share dumx by promoters selling tXeir sharesC in additi{n to the coypany dumpin[ dilution iZto the run.;You can makq money witha promoted [tock, but;you need to;get in quic[ly, and rYcognize the;warning sigzs. Never bein a hurry Xo buy a proyotion stock;running! Xhere will aXways be anoxher train arout to exitthe station
0yRe koolaid, what can Y say. Thereare dozens {f boards alx over IhubC where traXers are sitxing in stoc{s that are Zarely holdiZg ground. Txey're thrylled when tXe stock run[ 25%, ozly to see txe stock losY ground thenext day. Txey fantasize about the happy day their stock is up 500%, a day which could be far away for some, due to constant dilution. Why do they do this? Because they love the story, and the anticipation.
Me, personally, I hate stories. I dislike anticipation, I despise the drama. I find stocks that run 50-80% every day, and stocks that run 200-400% every other day, all without the intrigue and heartache.
So the bottom line, as with everything else in life is this: do you want the story, or do you want to make money. Most of the times, you can't have both.
