Peter Leeds

Small businesses are the source of the majority of economic growth in the United States, and this is probably true in most nations worldwide. In addition, the small-business sector is America's largest employer.When small businesses need to raise capital, they often go public by listing stock on the market. Some of these companies are tiny, or just getting started, and their value is still low, so they often trade as penny stocks.

In penny stocks, a picture is worth a thousand words. Trading charts display a penny stock's price — and usually trading volume — over time, in chart format. You can choose the duration of time and see how the price performed over a day, week, months, a year, or even longer.You can view trading charts for free from your broker and on numerous websites, including Big Charts, and the financial websites referenced in the preceding section.

To understand types of trading orders and how to use them, you need to know how stocks are bought and sold. When you buy or sell shares of any type of stock, you choose between two main types of orders: Limit orders Market orders Understanding the two types of orders is important for trading any type of equity, but the distinction is particularly significant when it comes to penny stocks.

Your contact at the penny stock company will usually (but not always) be very optimistic for the company's prospects. Take her hopes and expectations with a grain of salt. Instead of trusting everything she tells you, try to delve into her answers to glean what she is really saying.If she says that the penny stock company is growing rapidly, but also says that the headcount is half what it was a year ago, then something does not make sense.

You will get the best results from your phone call to a penny stock company if you ask the best questions. Avoid dead-end and vague queries, and instead ask focused questions that require the contact to answer with specific, detailed answers.Some examples of great questions that you should ask management or IR personnel include the following: What is the current headcount at your company?

Every publicly listed company has an investor relations (IR) contact (or contacts) who can tell you about the corporation and answer any questions you may have. Many penny stocks make the CEO or other top management available for investors as well. Contacting one of these company representatives is the absolute best way to find out more (and quickly) about a specific company and supercharge your investment results.

Message boards, or chat rooms, are forums where anyone can add their own comments to the discussions. For example, you could visit a message board where participants are talking about a particular stock and jump right in with a bunch of made-up facts for everyone to see, and potentially believe. Message boards are often full of misinformation and blatant lies.

Most publicly traded companies are mandated by their stock exchange to have an investor relations (IR) representative. IR reps help attract prospective investors, and an increased number of investors generally translates into higher stock prices and a broader shareholder base.One of the responsibilities of IR reps is to answer any questions that shareholders have about the company.