Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (2024)

Today we’re going to check out penny stocks, and should you go long or should you go short.

What’s the better approach to trading penny stocks?

A lot of people want to get into trading penny stocks.

Here’s why:

  • they’re cheaper stocks
  • they can explode to the moon (you make a huge percentage of return on your investments)
  • you don’t need as much capital.

There’s a lot of great attractiveness to trading penny stocks. But you have to understand how to trade these things.

There’s a lot of people that hate penny stocks because they’re cheap and they don’t usually go up. Other people love them because you can make a huge percentage of return.

Depending on where you are (black and white in the spectrum), you have to understand where do penny stocks fall into your portfolio. And we’re making these videos right now on penny stocks because we have an upcoming course.

New Course >>> Penny Stock Profits

This course is packed with the right ideas and mindsets to trading penny stocks and the right approach to trading these speculative plays.

When you get that course, you’ll also get our Penny Stock Case Studies course free included.

We’re doing a promotion and discount. Once that course is released, you’ll have a little bit of time to be able to get that course on sale.

Check out the course section at our website right now, and see what is the deal at this moment.

A lot of people don’t understand how to trade penny stocks because they don’t know where it fits in.

When you look at this portfolio allocation, this is what a lot of people do.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (1)

When they trade penny stocks, and they get into a penny stock, they put a hundred percent of their money into penny stocks.

Whereas the smarter approach is to allocate it in a certain spec part of your portfolio. If this is all your cash ($10,000), people put it all into penny stocks. Or you could look at it more like a triangle.

Here’s your $10,000 you put 100% right there all your money into penny stocks.

But if we take that triangle and move it over, you should have some longer-term investments. This is a larger chunk, and it’s near the base. Let’s say 40%-60% might be over here.

The next part could be swing trading, or it could be 30-60 day option trades – this could be about 25% of your investment. The allocation is different depending on your risk tolerance and risk levels.

And then the speculative part. Depending on your personality could be 5%-10%. This is where penny stocks fall in, and that’s what most people don’t get. It’s not that you can’t trade penny stocks.

Most people take the wrong approach, and they put 100% of their cash into penny stocks.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (2)

And then that penny stock fails, they get stuck, or they lose a bunch of money. After that, they say that they hate penny stocks.

Pro tip: understand that there’s the right approach to thinking about penny stocks and where they fit in.

And then there is also the wrong approach. Understand what’s going on and what’s happening.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (3)

When you look at these things, you have to understand how do you trade them. You can’t trade option trades on them because there’s not a ton of options on these penny stocks.

Reason #1 – they’re cheap

Reason #2 – they don’t trade a lot of volume

And here’s the question for you.

That’s the big question. And the majority of the time, I will tell you most people get it wrong. They get into these stocks because they have a normal investment mindset. They buy the stock, and they hold it for multiple months or years to come. And they cash out.

With penny stocks, can you do that?

Yes, you can.

But the majority of them actually should be traded to the short side. Even guru penny stock trader Tim Sykes talks about this all the time.

They are the trash or the garbage of the stock market. If the stock price is an outstanding stock, typically, the price will reflect that. If you’re trading penny stocks, the majority of the time, they’re not great companies.

I mean there’s still huge companies, they’re still making a bunch of money or maybe losing a bunch of money, but they’re not the true long-term investment worthy – not for a hundred years or something like that.

In this case, if you look at the majority of these companies (let’s just start at $2), you can see most of the time that trend is going the downside.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (4)

Sometimes you’ll see some spikes up, but then you’ll see rollovers. Just look through this list.

Here’s my penny stock list between $2 and $15 trading about over 40,000 shares. And you can see the majority of these stocks on a month-to-month basis are going down. These are monthly charts. They’ll go up a little bit, but then they start coming down.

Look at this one. Going up until about $10. Here is a low price. And this is what most people dream up. They get into the stock over here, the stock goes high, and you make 5 or 6 times your investment. And then you cash out.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (5)

That is a nice movement. But then with time, eventually, that stock comes back. Understand what’s happening – as the majority of the time, these stocks are moving lower.

Just flip through them, and you’ll see that’s what’s happening. There might be one or two or a handful here where they’re moving to the upside. But looking at this most of the time, when you’re trading penny stocks, you’ll want to go short.

And that’s just simply because cheap things are cheap for a reason. They break. And in the stock market, I’m not saying that they don’t have a lot of money. These companies are worth quite a lot of money. But in the market place, if you’re trying to invest in the top 10%, these are not the best of the best in the stock market.

Most people are going to put their money into big companies like McDonald’s and Microsoft.

As you take a look at these, you’ll see the majority of the trend is lower. Even stocks that opened up at $21 a share, they continue to go lower. And sometimes they’re there for a decade.

Look at this one from 2009; it was about 35 cents, and now it’s about $2. It passed almost 10 years, and it’s still down there.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (6)

Here’s an interesting one.

It moved up, pulled back, moved up, pulled back. You can see what they do. Even if they hit like an $8 mark, they still pull back.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (7)

That’s the majority of these stocks. And we can go to further prices – right now here’s $2 range.

Let’s go to $6 range. You can see even the first one I pull up right here; it started a little bit higher but continues to sell-off. And most of them will be like that.

There, of course, will be a few like that look good, and some are making good movements. And of course, if you can get them around $1 or $2 and they’re powering higher, that would be great.

You can get a nice movement. And that’s what you’re doing when you’re trading penny stocks.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (8)

You can get in it right there. Ride the run and sell a little and then finally get out entirely because you know these things will eventually come back.

Just like here.

Some people got into it here, rode the run, and eventually came back. And then for about 20 years now, that thing is still down in the gutter – Sirius XM.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (9)

Look at it. This is a popular company, Sirius XM, in 2002, about 63 cents. And it’s still only about $6 a share.

That’s what happens with penny stocks. Most people don’t get it and don’t understand.

When you’re dealing with these kinds of companies, you’re in the cheap zone of trading stocks. So, should you go long, so should you go short?

The majority of the time, you’ll probably want to short these things. Can you trade only long on these stocks? Yeah, absolutely.

But you’re doing it for a small period, you’ll run or take that little bit of a run and know that they’re coming back.

You’ll want to take your profits into strength as it’s moving in your favor; you’re getting out a little bit at a time.

These are the things in concepts we talked about in our penny stock trading course.

Definitely check this course out >>> Penny Stock Profits Course

There’s a lot of great knowledge material in it all focusing on smaller priced stocks ($15 a share or less)

And I give you these mindsets to show you the different approaches to trading these cheaper stocks.

It’s not the same way that you would trade these big companies like Microsoft, Google, or Tesla.

Trading Penny Stocks - Go Long or Short? Which is Better? - Tradersfly (2024)

FAQs

Is shorting penny stocks profitable? ›

Shorting penny stocks is a very popular trading strategy with small-cap stocks. It allows you to make money as the price of a stock falls. This is why there's so much volatility with low floaters at the open. It's the battle between the longs and shorts, creating a tug of war.

How long should you hold penny stocks for? ›

It's rare for a penny stock to be a long-term buy-and-hold investment. The sector is built on short-term trades. If you notch a sizeable gain over a short period, book it now rather than waiting for bigger profits that may never materialize.

How to trade penny stocks successfully? ›

How to trade penny stocks
  1. Open a live trading account. ...
  2. Fund your account. ...
  3. Research to find the right stocks for you. ...
  4. Decide if you want to buy or sell. ...
  5. Manage your risk. ...
  6. Determine your position size and place the trade. ...
  7. Monitor your position and close your trade.

Why can't you short penny stocks? ›

The short answer is because your broker can't find shares for you to borrow. There's several reasons for why this can happen, which we'll detail in this article. To fully understand why you can't short some penny stocks, we need to understand the mechanism of short selling in the stock market.

Is shorting more profitable than going long? ›

Key Takeaways

Short selling is riskier than going long because there's no limit to the amount you could lose. Speculators short sell to capitalize on a decline. Hedgers go short to protect gains or to minimize losses.

Do people get rich trading penny stocks? ›

Yes, you can make money with penny stocks, but you can also make money playing the lottery, though you probably won't. To make money in penny stocks, you have to be able to separate the good companies from the bad, and that means you have to be able to analyze companies.

Is it best to day trade penny stocks? ›

Day trading describes buying and selling common stock within the same day to profit from short-term price movements. Since they are prone to rapid price swings and high volatility, penny stocks are particularly attractive to day traders as opportunities for quick profits.

Should you day trade penny stocks? ›

Penny stock trading isn't for all day traders. It's risky and unpredictable. But for some, the potential rewards are worth the risks. If you're disciplined, do your homework, and stay vigilant about managing risk, it can be a profitable venture.

Do penny stocks ever go big? ›

Still, the potential to make large returns is a strong allure, driving risk-taking investors into taking positions in these securities. Though many penny stocks go bust, if an investor exercises careful fundamental analysis and picks sound management teams, they could find the coveted diamond in the rough.

What is the most successful penny stock? ›

Penny Stocks
Company NameLTPMarket Cap (in Cr)
Manali Petrochemicals78.451352.77
Dish TV India16.33047.33
Morepen Laboratories47.42387.16
NBCC (India)136.0524318
1 more row

What are the hottest penny stocks right now? ›

Most Active Penny Stocks
  • GGB3.860.12% Gerdau S.A.
  • WOOF2.610.57% Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc.
  • BITF1.850.24% Bitfarms Ltd.
  • TELL0.510.04% Tellurian Inc.
  • FSRN0.050.01% Fisker Inc.
  • WKHS0.230.02% Workhorse Group Inc.
  • SLNA0.120.07% Selina Hospitality PLC.
  • AITX0.010.00%

How many shares of penny stocks should I buy? ›

Some professionals recommend that you devote no more than 10% of your individual stock holdings to penny stocks. It's also important to understand your risk tolerance. Generally speaking, the higher your risk tolerance, the more equipped you are to take on the risk that can come with investing in penny stocks.

What is the short selling strategy of penny stocks? ›

Even though you're trading on a very short-term time frame, I think fundamentals and SEC filings are hugely important when shorting penny stocks. That's because real moves do occur in the penny stock market. Some of the companies are real and are making moves that increase their market value.

How to make money shorting penny stocks? ›

Shorting Penny Stocks: The Basics

Instead of buying low and selling high, you borrow shares from your broker at a price you think is too high. Then you sell the borrowed stocks and ideally buy them back later at a lower price. You then profit off the difference when you return the shares to your broker.

Why do people avoid penny stocks? ›

Lack of liquidity: Penny stocks are often illiquid, meaning it can be difficult to buy or sell your shares quickly without impacting the price. Unprofitable: Many penny stocks represent a stake in a company that has not and will not generate earnings for its shareholders.

How to make money short selling penny stocks? ›

Shorting Penny Stocks: The Basics

Instead of buying low and selling high, you borrow shares from your broker at a price you think is too high. Then you sell the borrowed stocks and ideally buy them back later at a lower price. You then profit off the difference when you return the shares to your broker.

Does shorting stocks make money? ›

Short selling a stock is when a trader borrows shares from a broker and immediately sells them with the expectation that the share price will fall shortly after. If it does, the trader can buy the shares back at the lower price, return them to the broker, and keep the difference, minus any loan interest, as profit.

Can you short a stock under $1? ›

The $2.50 Rule

It basically means if you short a stock trading under $1, it doesn't matter how much each share is — you still have to put up $2.50 per share of buying power. That can eat up a lot of capital. I mean, why would a short seller put up $2.50 in buying power to short a 40-cent stock down to what …

How much can you make selling penny stocks? ›

Shares of penny stocks are investments in companies that usually trade for less than $5 per share. Say you purchase 10,000 shares of a stock at 30 cents per share and the price then goes up to $1 per share. If you sell at this time, you'll make $7,000, more than doubling your money.

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