Tips Guides Resources

In order to educate yourself on the different terms and practices related to Pink Sheets, read along as we try to answer the common FAQs about them.

What are the Pink Sheets?
The Pink Sheets is an electronic quotation service which displays quotes for over the counter (OTC) securities in real time. It is not a registered stock exchange company, and it is not affiliated with the NYSE or NASDAQ.

What are the different stocks being traded in Pink Sheets?
The different stocks being offered in Pink Sheets are penny stocks and other over the counter (OTC) securities. Penny stocks have share prices pegged at less than $5.

What is the difference between OTCBB and Pink Sheets?
The Pink Sheets is not governed by NASDAQ or other SEC regulated stock exchange companies. Companies who want to trade in Pink Sheets are not required to submit financial papers. On the other hand, OTCBB or Over the Counter Bulletin Board is governed by NASDAQ, which means that the companies that want to enter OTCBB should be able to complete the requirements as required by NASDAQ. Pink Sheets also offer tickers and an electronic trade negotiating system to market makers, which OTCBB is not offering.

How can a company get quoted in Pink Sheets?
If your company wants to get quoted in Pink Sheets, you must first find a market maker who will quote the stock prices for you. Market makers are also known as broker-dealers. Your market maker should be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and he should also be a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

What different kinds of companies are quoted in Pink Sheets?
There are many companies listed in Pink Sheets, but the majority of them are:

Small start up companies that have not yet grown enough to meet the requirements of NASDAQ or SEC to be publicly listed.

Large foreign companies that are publicly listed in their home countries, but do not pass the requirements of being listed in the US. The most common reason for this is that the financial statements of these foreign companies are not in conformity with the GAAP, which is required to be listed in the US.

Companies that volunteered to be delisted and try their hand at over the counter (OTC) stocks trading.

Banks and companies which are thinly traded.

How do pink sheets work?
If you are an investor who wants to trade on pink sheets, you must contact a brokerage firm to act as the agent between you and the market maker in pink sheets. The stockbroker will get quotes from the electronic data market system and will enter the details online. The order will then be sent to the trader, either by computer or telephone.

If the trader is also the market maker for the specific stock ordered, then he will execute the order. If he is not the direct market maker, he will forward it to the market maker who is offering the best price for the security in subject, who will in turn execute the order.

After this process, a transaction report will be sent to the stockbroker, which he will relay to the investor through a transaction confirmation.

Nir Dotan is a writer and promoter of
Pink Sheets
services, and
Pink Sheets Preferred source for the latest news and information on the best and brightest Stocks Investment.

Stocks investment is not an easy subject, especially if you do not know what to look for. Stocks investment in micro capital stocks is even harder, because information about microcap companies - or penny stocks companies as they are often called - is not easily available whether in print or online on the internet.

However, micro cap Stocks investment can be learned, and can be a lucrative way of making money if you know the guidelines and stick to them. Here are a few that you should follow.

Rule number 1 - Do your homework.

Sometimes you will come across Stocks investment information that will catch your attention like a eureka moment. Don’t jump at making Stocks investment right away; make sure you do your homework first. Research everything you can about the company, especially about the stocks investments. Look for information about the people running the company.

Study how many stocks the company has on float in relation to the total number of outstanding stocks, and how many belong to the insiders. Look at the demand for the stocks. See how long the company has had the stocks on float and look at the trend - is the price steadily going up, is it flat, or is there a downwards trend?

Rule number 2 - Use a disciplined strategy when deciding on stocks investments; don’t involve your emotions.

Think of this as a game of strategy. After doing your homework and you find a stock you like, decide on a buying price and stick to it, no matter what.

It may happen that before you could buy the Stocks investment you want, the price shoots upwards or downwards even if there is no new significant news to influence the fluctuation. Don’t buy if the price shoots up, just because you think you might be missing out if you don’t buy it now. If the price zooms down, think twice and look at it as a signal to take extra caution. Don’t get carried way into buying just because you like the stock.

There are thousands of Stocks investment that may be more worthy than this one. If you cannot get this one, move on and look for something else. If you still want to buy the stock, wait until it stabilizes or goes back to your predetermined buy price.

Rule number 3 - Don’t wait for a perfect price.

Don’t look for a perfect price; there probably won’t be one. Study the historical price charts and decide on a bottom and ceiling range for your buy price. If the prices fluctuate, take the average.

After you have researched the company and you are sure the price will move upwards in the short term or long term, go ahead and buy it if it meets your price range.

Rule number 4 - Invest a smaller portion of your portfolio in micro cap stocks, and keep a bigger chunk for big cap stocks investments.

If you plan to build a portfolio of stocks investment, keep no more than a maximum of 50% of the total value of the portfolio to micro cap and penny stocks. If you can make big cap stocks a bigger chunk, that’s even better.

Big capital stocks are more stable, but may not earn as much as small caps. Small cap stocks have the potential to earn more, but they are riskier and will take up a lot of your time. A portfolio with a bigger percentage devoted to big cap stocks will be easier to manage and will cause you less stress.

Rule number 5 - Don’t get greedy; lock in your gains.

Now that you are getting the hang of stocks investment, don’t forget your disciplined strategy. Once you earn enough, lock them in with trailing stops these are stop loss orders to protect your profit and sell out while you still can.

Nir Dotan is a writer and promoter of
Stocks Investment
services, and
Stocks Investment Preferred source for the latest news and information on the best and brightest Stocks Investment.

If you’re someone who has never paid attention to stocks investment before but are now toying with the idea of dabbling in the stock market, one of the things you will have to learn is how to read the stocks investment tables that you see in the business section of your newspaper.

Right now all those numbers seem to be Greek language to you perhaps, but if you know what each one stands for and how these numbers relate to each other, it will become easy to understand.

The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, and the business section of most dailies show charts and tables from different major stock exchanges such as the NYSE, the Nasdaq, and AMEX. Information about penny stocks is found in the Russell 2000, and S&P 600 stock tables. Understanding stocks investment tables is helpful if you are looking for a worthwhile stocks investment opportunity, or if you want to track the stocks that you have bought.

52 week high - This is the highest price that the stock has reached in the last 52 weeks. This price will give you an idea of where the stock is now in reference to its performance in the past.

52-week low: This is the lowest price that the stock has reached in the last 52 weeks. This is information is helpful in analyzing the stocks performance over a period of time.

Div: A div, or dividend, is a payment made by the company to the stockholder. If the company pays a dividend, it will show in this column. The price you will see here is the annual dividend per share of stock.

Yld: This means Yield, and refers to the percentage of the dividend over the stock price. If a company did not give any dividends, the value would be zero.

P/E: This is the ratio between the price of the stock and the company’s earnings. The figure is reported as per single share of stock. The P/E ratio is also called earnings multiple or multiple, and is used to determine whether a stock is expensive and therefore a good stocks investment. For large cap stocks, a P/E of 10 to 20 is ideal, and for growth or small caps stocks, this should be 30 to 40, not more.

The P/E ratio is one of the most important figures on the stock table because it will tell you whether your smart caps stock is a good buy or not. If you notice that a company has no P/E ratio, this means that the company reported a loss in the last year and would probably not be a good stocks investment.

Vol: This refers to the trading volume of the stock, meaning the total number of stocks of the company that were bought and sold for the day. What you would have to watch out for is a highly active activity - positive or negative - for that stock. If the trading volume has an excessive difference from that stocks normal range, then something must be going on.

It may be that the company has just entered into a new deal with another company or introduced a new product, or it may experiencing financial problems.

High/Low: The high and low figures indicate the highest and lowest price at which the stock was bought and sold for a particular day.

Day Last: This figure tells you the price at which the stock ended during the trading for the day.

Chg: This number refers to the Net Change between the stocks performance at the end of today, compared with the end of the previous day.

There are many more figures and codes to a stock table, but these are the most common. Some stock exchanges and electronic quotation systems will show more figures than others. If you can begin to understand these figures, after a while you will find yourself getting out that paper, pen and calculator to do work out your own computations and estimates.

Nir Dotan is a writer and promoter of
Stocks Investment
services, and
Stocks Investment Preferred source for the latest news and information on the best and brightest Stocks Investment.

There has never been a correction that has not proven to be an investment opportunity. While everything is down in price, there is actually less to worry about than when prices are historically high. More money has been lost by people who bought into last year’s markets than by those who will buy into this one, at this stage of the correction. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.

Every correction is different, the result of various economic and/or political circumstances that create the need for adjustments in the financial markets. This correction is worse than most that I’ve experienced, but the doom and gloom scenarios many have been pushing are unlikely to come to fruition. Once the media elects a new president, they’ll just have to start reporting better news: 96% of all mortgages are current sounds a whole lot better than 20% of all sub-prime mortgages are in trouble.

Some fundamentals in many excellent companies have eroded significantly (due in part to accounting rules that are being changed), but for the most part, interest payments are being made and few dividends have been cut. Bargain prices abound in both the equity and fixed income markets and interest rates are historically low.

A cocktail of credit market laxatives is working its way into a constipated world economy. Relief is on the way. Today’s prices may well be looked at as the lowest of the next ten years! Here’s a list of things to think about or to do while Investment Grade value Stock prices are at ten-year lows:

Don’t beat yourself up by looking at your account market value. You should expect it to be down significantly because all security prices have fallen. Look for ways to add to your portfolios—that’s what the smart guys are doing.

Keep in mind that someone is buying the individual shares that the others are selling. The buyers will hold on until they can turn a profit, and the cash on the sidelines will eventually find its way back into the markets as prices rise.

There are no crystal balls, and no place for hindsight in an investment strategy. Buying too soon, in the right portfolio percentage, is nearly as important to long-term investment success as selling too soon is during rallies.

Take a look at the future. Nope, you can’t tell when the rally will come or how long it will last. If you are buying quality securities now, as you certainly should be, you will be able to love the rally even more than you did the last time— as you take yet another round of profits.

As, or if, the correction continues, buy more slowly as opposed to more quickly, and establish new positions incompletely so that you can add to them safely later. There’s more to “Shop at The Gap” than meets the eye, and you may run out of cash well before the new rally begins.

Cash flow is king, so take smaller profits sooner than usual as long as there are abundant buying opportunities. Today, nearly eighty percent of all Investment Grade Value Stocks are down more than 15% from their 52-week highs.

In looking at your income securities, cash flow is the primary concern; as long as it continues unabated, the change in market value is merely a perceptual/emotional issue. A loosening of the credit markets should move CEF prices back into normal ranges.

Note that Working Capital keeps growing in spite of falling prices. Examine your holdings for opportunities to average down on cost per share or to increase your yield on fixed income securities.

Identify new buying opportunities using a consistent set of rules, rally or correction. That way you will always know which of the two you are dealing with in spite of what the Wall Street propaganda mill spits out. Focus on Investment Grade Value Stocks; it’s easier, generally less risky, and better for your peace of mind.

Stop examining your portfolio’s performance in market value terms— it leads to fearful, often frantic, decision-making. Keep your asset allocation and investment objectives clearly in focus and try to think in terms of market and economic cycles as opposed to calendar quarters and years. The Working Capital Model provides a calmer way of dealing with portfolio dislocations during severe corrections.

So long as everything is down, there is really less to worry about. This is the result of panic selling by ETF and open-end mutual fund owners and the beginnings of year-end window dressing by fund managers.

Corrections, regardless of cause, will vary in depth and duration, but both characteristics are only clearly visible in rear view mirrors. The short and deep ones are most lovable; the long and slow ones are more difficult to deal with. If you over-think the environment or over-cook the research, you’ll miss the after-party.

Unlike many things in life, Stock Market realities need to be dealt with quickly, decisively, and with zero hindsight. Because amid all the uncertainty, there is one indisputable fact that reads equally well in either market direction: there has never been a correction/rally that has not succumbed to the next rally/correction.

Get out there and buy low for a change.

Steve Selengut
Sanco Services
Kiawa Golf Investment Seminars
Author: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read” and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy”.

Penny stocks refer to stocks that are valued at less than $5. This specific kind of stock trades on the OTC Bulletin (OTC BB), pink sheets or over the counter (OTC). Experts who are trading penny stocks for a long time are saying that the most important thing to remember is timing. This will enable you to buy and sell stocks at the right time. If you put this practice into action, you can buy stocks from the companies don’t seem to be doing well at the moment and still get a profit from it, that is if you put timing in the equation.

Most people want to trade penny stocks because they are relatively cheap and easy to acquire. It entails a high level of risk, which is why you need to be extra careful with the decisions that you will make when it comes to trading penny stocks. Remember that high risk can also translate to high returns of investment if you know precisely what you are doing.

The prices of penny stocks fluctuate drastically. Before entering penny stock trading, you must be aware that you may lose money even if you are well-informed and made a lot of good trading decisions. It’s part and parcel of the whole investment game. You will lose money but there is a high probability that you will gain a lot of money too.

Experts say that one of the main characteristics of a good investor is not that he is winning all the time, but rather, he has more wins than losses.

If you invest in penny stocks, you have the possibility of earning a lot from your investment in one to three years, if you know how the whole investment game is played.

Before you delve into penny stock trading, you must do your research well and educate yourself. Read up on different literature and online sites about penny stocks and try to absorb everything that you can. Of course, your source of information should be a credible agency or organization.

Also, the learning process does not stop there; ask financial experts for advice to have a better grasp of the different things that you need to do. The information is always changing, so be updated with all the penny stocks trading news and different developments in the investing world.

You must also research about the issuer of the penny stocks to ensure that it is not fraudulent. Scams are very prevalent in penny stocks trading so be very vigilant. Read up on the company or manufacturer’s background. Some of the important factors that you can look at are: the background of the company, financial track record, business model, expansion possibilities and competitive position in the specific industry that the company is in. If you can, ask around for experts to give you investment advice.

The bottom line is to be well-informed with the different terms and practices when it comes to penny stocks trading. The information that you know will help you in the long run and will lead to good decisions that can bring you enough financial gain to fatten that nest egg.

Nir Dotan is a writer and promoter of
Penny Stocks
services, and
Penny Stocks Preferred source for the latest news and information on the best and brightest Penny Stocks.

For those of us who have enjoyed income from investment property over the last few years, the ground is looking a little shaky to say the least. Houses prices have slumped, interest rates have risen, the cost of living has gone through the roof and people are extremely wary of buying, selling or even renting property due to the current economic situation.

However, while home owners may complain about losing several thousand pounds on the value of their investment property, spare a thought for the owners of Canary Wharf. The value of their portfolio of property has dropped by 500 pounds million in just over a month, according to their latest release of figures.

Much of this has been due to the collapse of some major businesses that were leasing office space in Canary Wharf. Lehman Brothers were renting office space from Songbird’s portfolio of investment property at a rate of 41 pounds per square foot that was due to rise later this year to 53. pounds Lehman Brothers lease was due to run for another 25 years and this will lead to a vast hole in the rental income for landlords, Songbird.

It is hoped that this will be largely turned around after Asian financiers Nomura implement their proposed takeover and will be looking to employ much of Lehman’s ex staff. Though it is unlikely that they will take on all of Lehman’s staff, a good proportion will be back in paid work very soon and they will be needing office space - so hope Canary Wharf landlords.

All office space across London has dropped by up to thirty per cent in the last year due to economic difficulties but Songbird still have over 99 per cent of their investment property on Canary Wharf let, which means that they, at least, have hope of riding out the storm.

Of course, these bigger companies will lose a lot more money than the average man in the street because of the fact that they have more invested more money in the first place but losing a little can have a much more devastating effect on the average person who cannot afford to lose a penny. The majority of properties are not investment property but have been purchased as a family’s main home and when the credit crunch bites so hard that mortgages can no longer be afforded, repossessions happen and families are homeless.

This then puts the onus on local authorities to re-house people but they are already under enormous strain trying to house immigrants and the poor or homeless. Because of this, local authorities often turn to housing associations and even private landlords to re-house the people on their lists. This is all very well while private landlords can still afford to keep property that they rent out but this isn’t looking promising either.

This is a dilemma that many people have seen coming for ages and it is frustrating to see the executives of the big financial institutions raking in ever higher bonuses. What most of us would like to know is what these bonuses are for, how the banks can afford them when they are all struggling, where this money is coming from and why isn’t it being ploughed back into the system to ease the situation?

At the end of the day, the average man is pretty much helpless in the face of these financial difficulties and we are left using our own judgement on how to keep our heads above water but we do have the option of how we vote when it comes to how the government deal with this crisis.

Shaun Parker is a leading financial expert with many years of experience in the property markets. Find out more about investment property at http://www.propertyinvestment.co.uk