A Solid Guide To Various Penny Stock Brokers
Posted by Timothy Sykes on Wed 30th of Jul, 2008 11:50:30 AM
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Everyone always asks what brokers allow shorting Penny Stocks, who I use, who they should use, who’s the cheapest, who’s the worst with customer service–until now I’ve basically just endorsed Thinkorswim (cuz I’m an affiliate, I love em, use em and that’s how I shorts Penny Stocks) and SpeedTrader (cuz they’re my sponsor and their specialty is shorting OTCBB & Pink Sheets), but thanks to THIS great post (copied with permission below) by all-around good guy penny stock maven Peter Leeds (whose PennyStocks.com domain I will eventually own, wait til I’m rich enough to buy it Leeds!) (or PennyStock.com cuz those guys don’t deserve it, they just suck), here’s a great rundown of all your options when trading Penny Stocks:
(I do have to interject how much Scottrade sucks for PennyStocking–they’re fine for buying Penny Stocks (and Mikity mIke’s scrolling HOD list (you don’t know what HOD means, you shouldn’t be trading, go back and friggin research you dumb lazy fat Americans!), but understand you get what you pay for, I hated their service, their ability to short sale is pathetic and stock promoters love them (sketchyyyyyy)–that’s why I rip on them in videos like THIS…and even though it’s not in my sponsorship best interest to rip em, somebody has to tell the truth to you guys)
PS Other than Thinkorswim & SpeedTrader, I have no affiliations with any of these companies, although I have used Noble Trading (solid) and Ameritrade (not bad) & firmly believe you should treat your broker like the whores that they are, use em, pay em & leave em…never even heard of some these so I consider them junkie whores, very very dangerous/sketchy
The Penny Stock Broker report includes:
1. How we researched the penny stock brokers
2. The findings from the top 9
Scott Trade
Speed Trader
MyTradz.com
Trading Direct
Lightspeed Trading
RealFastTrader.com
Success Trade Security
Ameritrade
Noble Trading
1. HOW WE RESEARCHED THE PENNY STOCK BROKERS:
In Penny Stocks, it is important to get the right stock broker. Penny stock traders generally make more trades, more trades per dollar, and more shares per trade. We also have to watch for low trading-volume stocks, and we need our broker to be reliable and helpful.
So, we decided to research the discount brokers exactly like we research the penny stock picks we make at PeterLeeds.com - by looking at every factor. We went above and beyond the call of duty, just like we do with our penny stock picks.
For example, we e-mailed every broker two different e-mails:
E-mail #1 appeared as if it was coming from a prospective client.
E-mail #2 came from PeterLeeds.com staff, with full disclosure of the broker rankings we were working on.
We called them all too, and ranked their helpfulness, professionalism, and friendliness.
We took a good look at their policies, hidden charges, and commission rates. We even took into account the ease of setting up an account, and the quality of the trading webpage.
From the hundreds and hundreds of discount brokers, here are the top nine. They are in no paticular order, because what is important to one person is not as important to another. You may want low commissions, while someone else wants helpful phone support.
Take a breeze through these rankings, and decide for yourself which penny stock broker is best for you!
Also, provide us with your feedback. We’d love to hear about your experiences with the discount brokers.
THE FINDINGS FROM THE TOP NINE
1.) www.scottrade.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = $500
3.) E-mail #1 response time = Didn’t respond
4.) E-mail #2 response time = 11 hours
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 8
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 7
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 8
8.) Telephone call answered? Got voice message and had to type in zipcode to get directed to local office.
9.) Hold time? No hold time.
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 9
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 9
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 9
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $7.00 on all trades $1.00 and above, Broker assisted $27.00.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $19.50 ($7.00 per trade plus 1/2% of total amount)
Notes and Observations: Very helpful. To open an account you can do it online.
1.) www.speedtrader.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = $2,000
3.) E-mail #1 response time = 1 hour
4.) E-mail #2 response time = 1 hour
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 9
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 9
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 9
8.) Telephone call answered? Voice menu
9.) Hold time? 15 seconds
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 10
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 10
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 10
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $9.95 flat fee or lower depending.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $9.95 flat fee or lower.
Notes and Observations: Call when setting up your account to let them know you’re investing in Penny Stocks and they will set-up your account. Possibly will offer some discount rates for penny stock trading at the time you call. Can only invest in a maximum of 200,000 shares before having to do another trade. Very friendly about penny stock trading.
1.) www.mytradz.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = $200 cash account ($2,000 for margin)
3.) E-mail #1 response time = No response.
4.) E-mail #2 response time = 10 minutes
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 9
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 9
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 9
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately / transferred to broker from receptionist.
9.) Hold time? 1 minute
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 9
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 10
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 9
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $17.95 per trade
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $17.95 per trade
Notes and Observations: Very helpful. Gave additional information. Easy online sign-up process.
1.) www.tradingdirect.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = No minimum
3.) E-mail #1 response time = 4hrs 25min
4.) E-mail #2 response time = No response
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 10
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 10
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 10
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately
9.) Hold time? None
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 5
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 5
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 5
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $9.95 per trade.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $9.95 per trade.
Notes and Observations: 1 Trade per year is required to avoid the $60 inactive fee.
1.) www.lightspeedbrokers.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = no minimum
3.) E-mail #1 response time = 5 days
4.) E-mail #2 response time = 4 days
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 9
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 9
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 9
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately
9.) Hold time? N/A
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 7
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 6
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 5
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $9.95 flat fee
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $9.95 flat fee
Notes and Observations: Currently getting registered in all 50 states. Should be registered within a month or two from 1-26-06.
1.) www.realfasttrader.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = $2,000
3.) E-mail #1 response time = 30 minutes
4.) E-mail #2 response time = 13 minutes
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = 10
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = 10
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = 10
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately
9.) Hold time? None
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 9
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 9
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 9
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $9.95 per trade or lower with more shares
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $9.95 per trade or lower with more shares
1.) www.lowtrades.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = Cash no minimum / $2,000 margin
3.) E-mail #1 response time = no response
4.) E-mail #2 response time = no response
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = N/A
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = N/A
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = N/A
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately
9.) Hold time? None
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 9
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 10
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 9
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $2.99 per trade for the first month, $5.00 per trade after the first month.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = $2.99 per trade the first month, $5.00 per trade after first month.
Notes and Observations: Insurance up to $500,000 and the clearing firm has additional insurance for account holders.
1.) www.ameritrade.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = no minimum, no balance required. Maintain total $2,000 in account or trade 4 times in prior 6-month period to avoid $15 maintenance fee per quarter.
3.) E-mail #1 response time = no response
4.) E-mail #2 response time = no response
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = no response
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = no response
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = no response
8.) Telephone call answered? Voice menu / announced wait time
9.) Hold time? 2 minutes
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 10
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 9
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 10
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = $10.99 flat fee; phone system $14.99, broker assisted $24.99.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 = (same as above)
1.) www.nobletrading.com
2.) Minimum to open an account = cash $500 / margin $2,000 or more / day trading over $25,000
3.) E-mail #1 response time = no response
4.) E-mail #2 response time = no response
5.) E-mail professionalism rank = no response
6.) E-mail helpfulness rank = no response
7.) E-mail friendliness rank = no response
8.) Telephone call answered? Immediately
9.) Hold time? None
10.) Called back if required? N/A
11.) Time before call back? N/A
12.) Telephone professionalism rank? 10
13.) Telephone helpfulness rank? 10
14.) Telephone friendliness rank? 10
15.) Cost to buy 1,000 shares at $1.00 = Two options either flat fee per trade, or a percentage per share. It’s up to the investor. Either $4.95 per trade or $.006 per share with a minimum of $2.00.
16.) Cost to buy 10,000 shares at $0.25 (same as above)
Notes and Observations: They don’t negotiate trades. Investor’s offers go directly to the floor. Noble Trading offers software that you can do this through, as well. One software package is free and it offers charts, money etc… for execution. Various costs for other software.
Now you can Twitter any questions/comments to TIMhelp and obviously you can follow TIM on twitter too!
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TIM Alerts
View All| Date | Stock | Position | Ideal Exit | % Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 24 | KVHI | Short | $3.70 | 18% |
| Nov 20 | STSX | Short | $3.10 | 11% |
| Nov 18 | PERY | Short | $3.75 | 25% |
| Nov 11 | IIJI | Short | $2.80 | 5% |
| Nov 6 | CVI | Short | $4 | 15% |
| Nov 5 | MECA | Short | $1.95 | 51% |
| Nov 4 | CVI | Short | $4.81 | 4% |
| Nov 3 | NAK | Short | $3.20 | 5% |
| Oct 29 | EVC | Short | $2 | 26% |
| Oct 28 | HSNI | Short | $6.80 | 7% |
| Oct 28 | HSNI | Short | $5.75 | 4% |
November: 9 alerts, 15% avg gain
October: 11 alerts, 14% avg gain
Nice…
LOL Tim. Lazy is right. Anyway, IB is good for this sort of thing too, but has higher minimums. Their customer service is evil, though.
Tim,
What you think about etrade?
Shorted 500 shares of MITI at 4.47, covered at 4.09
Shorted 400 shares of STSA at 7.915 covered at 4.48 (stopped by a trailing stop on my way to work)
Shorted 400 shares of OVEN at 5.145, still open, not doing much now. 400ish profit morning.
Trying to get some consolation about missing USS, even I have 1000 shares reserved since this morning, couldn’t pull the trigger, too afraid of a bounce back. I guess I am a whimp.
But a whimp with an additional $ 400 feels kind of happy.
Congrats on the 300 TIM alert subscribers TIM, $ 9 000 a month, you should have no problem paying your BMW lease by now !!!! I guess hard work pays off sometimes.
STSA is still at 7.00 something..when did it reach 4.48
Sorry longshort, typo, I covered at 7.48, although I really would have liked that not being a mistake.
Reshorted STSA at 7.46, this time with a loose stop in place. Don’t see support above 77, and then it appears weak, shooting for under $7
This thing is really drying up, feel lonely here, will post on timalerts site now, but no timbucks there though…..
Iran will not retreat in nuclear standoff: Khamenei
US reaffirms Saturday deadline on Iran, warns of ‘consequences’
Obama says Israel could strike Iran if sanctions fail: report
Gas inventories drop larger than expected.
So much for the demise of oil. I told you superspike soon. 120 low today and currently at 127. Every oil expert on TV said oil will never see 130 again. *double middle fingers* You know shit my friends.
I mockingly said Monday that market will only rally on the next financial institution to announce an 11 billion loss for the quarter. Merrill Lynch sells $8.5 billion worth of new stock. They sold $31 billion worth of CDO’s for 22 cents on the dollar and financed 75% of the deal. Their stock rallied 10% on the news. LOL Are you kidding me? The DOW rallied over 200 points on that fantastic news.
Day to day the market fluctuates but on a monthly period the market always gets it right.
10K DOW by end of year
150 OIL.
yeah, where’s the love for tim bucks on the members only side? i think i’d be kicking Yngvai’s butt if he counted those too :)
I get real chatty when I’m excited when I’m watching a stock i’m watching do what i want it to.
What do you guys think of PRS. Huge jump today and now flat chart with declining volume….
its only up 50 cents in 2 days time. not really vertical enough.
PRS looks like the definition of a messy chart, I wouldn’t touch it
Also boosting prices Wednesday was a report by Goldman Sachs, which affirmed its earlier forecast that crude will hit $149 a barrel by the end of the year.
Goldman, have you been reading my posts on this board.
NPLA…up 250% off bounce on no news…I’d of thought likely short candidate soon as its been trading shaky last couple hours…FYI (couldn’t get shares myself). Yes Timmy, I funded an account that I can start shorting in, so will be looking both side of the coin now. Long market sucks now - no one seems to give a crap about earnings/PE, so why bother playing on the paranoid chicken little side when shorts seem to control the whole damn market these days.
Don’t know about oil anymore, bought DTO at 28.70 dumped it at 29.80 looks like dumb luck. Will leave oil plays for Tommy, will try to focus on developing my edge on small caps.
Although I may pickup some DTO on further oil spike since oil chart is broken….. NO SHORTY !!!! BAD SHORTY !!!!
MNKD with the breakout beginning… 3.45 now needs to close 4.25 gap
TommyTim,
Everyoil expert on TV said oil wouldn’t reach 130? What are you watching? I hope you know you’re going to have to trade in those rabbit ears for a converter box in feb 2009. And I don’t think goldman sachs would be reading some water cooler talkin wannabe investors comments on a freebie website. Get on covester….get a blog, do something to backup your results. Because we are sick of seeing random posts on here about oil prices and your predictions. A lot of bark, but no bite.
good call puma, hope I can get some shares.
I sold out at 3.52… got in at 3.10 and needed the trade after getting hit on SQNM the other day… got my money back now though… made another few hundred playing MITI for a few days… long only though unfortunately (IRA)
MNLU-
1 naice question:
I have been watching this stock for last few days…this stock goes down every morning and then comes back.
pattern wise is it good to short it today and cover it in the morning…
I meant to say naive question….
Puma, you going long mknd? I like it as a potential short once it looses steam. Not daring to enter long position on it now.
you mean mnkd?
Only 1500 bucks to go Sykes. 25k and its “Let Freedom Ring!”
MNKD, I would lean long, but I just sold it when it was at 3.52… I was already up big at that time, and didn’t like the shrinking volume so I bailed. I probably wouldn’t go short on it just yet.
Looking at the big gap that needs to be filled in it right now (4.25 est) I personally wouldn’t short.
thats right guns, my typos are huge today, waking up at 4:50 to get tim alerts is efefcting my typnig
Shorty, I was long at the time of my posts… now I have no position
Don’t get me wrong Puma, I would only consider to short it after it fills the gap you are refering to, just thinks it is better risk reward. I Hope It gaps and then tanks so we both make money.
Sounds good to me! Good luck to everyone trading it… I’m out for a few days. Stupid SEC non margin IRA rules.
Bought some TMR into the close. I didn’t get punished enough the first time.
SO, i made 6% today, small gain, but considering within all technical meaning i owned 500 stocks today, Im coming back to take you off of top of the list tim, watch out!
lol Jay, big mouth for someone who has -36.09% annual return
getshorty,
Hopefully you type better when you enter the ticker on the order form.
MNKD looks like it could develop into a good short if it gives us another big green candle. Hope for it to run up big tomorrow and fall apart friday. Who knows if it plays nice with us we could talk Tim into shorting it on Livestock.
I dunno if he’ll do that again since you have to watch these kinda plays so closely.
I may look for shares to reserve for the next two days.
Although as I write this I am seeing it take a pretty big hit in after hours trading.
Who knows if it jumps a dollar tomorrow it may be good for friday maybe even monday.
I would consider today its first big green candle. If it gives us two more even bigger then this one we could see a nice short opportunity monday if the weekend doesn’t fuck it up.
Young, why not try and ride it up for that dollar you think it might jump tomorrow? Why not try to ride it up, then flip and short it?
Too risky bestdeception, it can gap down anytime. the down ride on panic is more predictable It would have been a good long if we have spotted it earlier today. Now is too scary for this chicken.
I am in the same boat with you Gunz, but will short as soon as it shows weakness, even if it doesn’t gives us one more white candle. Although, after the green candle it would be a more ideal setup.
RAMR - thoughts on this play? I like the chart…
Did anybody catch the EFFC breakout? I’ve been mentioning this setup for days in my blog. And the one day I couldn’t be at the computer trading is the one day it breaks out :(
WOW !!!
RAMR looks like quite a breakout, will reserve some shares on this one definitely.
EFFC Looks like a solid Sykes’s Stairstepper
I’ve been watching EFFC consolidate around 14-15 cents for days now, and have mentioned it quite a bit in my blogs. This is a low floater and can move on very little volume. I figured if it moved past 15 cents on decent volume, it would probably break past its 17 cent high easily. It closed at 18 cents. 18 cents from 15 cents (where I would’ve played it given that it opened strong and was progressively rising on good volume intraday) is a 20% return right there. But you also could’ve played it on the 17 cent break and held overnight.
The only dangerous thing about EFFC, though, is that it jumps pretty easily in half-cent increments. So it easily could go the other way and you could end up with a loss bigger than what you’d like.
new post:
http://www.timothysykes.com/ad.....hat-bitch/
Sounds good, but haven’t played this kind of stocks (under 20 cents low floaters) before, last time I messed up with a low floater, superman hit me in the face with NTI.
Would keep an eye on this one in order to watch and learn.
Your consolidation explanation makes absolute sense since it appears it is changing hands from weak to strong hands.
Thanks and good luck !
May the Glory be with the brave ones !!!
Hey Reaper,
>Anyway, IB is good for this sort of thing too, but has higher
>minimums. Their customer service is evil, though.
Can you reserve shares to short with IB?
IB does not like retail customers like me.
SO WHAT,I don’t like their reps either!
So we are even sh**bags.
I get super low commish and get 90% of shorts I want so stuff it IB,love to use you,haha
Oh and their premarket time in scan,you are soooooo sweet IB
(gotta understand this love hate thing we got going:)
I get the short on real stocks as Tim puts it but for pennies it seems very hard and the way I understand it if they dont have it they wont try to locate it? Is that right?