Posts Tagged ‘SEC’

Buying Penny Stocks: What You Need To Know

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Penny stocks are a very popular form of investment for many people.  The high percentage change experienced by penny stocks makes them attractive to traders looking to make high returns.  As defined by the SEC, penny stocks are those that trade for less than $5 per share.  Now, others may use other cut offs, but that is the official definition.  As you might expect, these penny stocks belong to very small companies, and trade in very small volumes.  Often times, this low volume leads to a lack of liquidity, which basically means you can’t buy and sell these stocks when you want to, or at least not at the price you might like.  The small trading volume also makes penny stocks prone to manipulation by unscrupulous individuals.  Despite all of the caveats, though, people still do make money with penny stocks.

If you’re looking to start investing with penny stocks, you will need to find a broker.  This might seem easy, but not all brokers are good for buying penny stocks.  The reason for this is that many brokers will impose high fees for trading penny stocks.  Since one of the keys to investing is to keep fees as low as possible, you will want to find a broker that does not have any fees for penny stocks.  This is easier said than done, but is important if you want to save money on your trades.

If you have a broker that doesn’t charge fees, than buying penny stocks is just like buying any other sort of stock.  Just be careful, the world of penny stocks in unforgiving for those who think they have things all figured out.  Take your time, do your research, and don’t get greedy.  Fail to do this, and you will lose money.