Sunday, June 29, 2014

June 29 Watch List

1) $BAH - Booz Hamilton (Long biased)
Long biased if this starts to have that bounce look. Last time it was at this level it didn't bounce very much. But this $21 level has been key resistance and it bounce from here.

2) $BALT - Baltic Trading (Long biased)
$BALT broke down through the $6.00. Not a bullish sign. But could bounce here like it did in late April and early May. Otherwise, I'll take it off my radar and watchlist

3) $ARNA - Arena Pharmaceuticals
Long biased on this one, 19% of float is short and this $5.80 has proven to be key support. Will be watching this one closely

4) $CMGE - China Mobile
Long biased if the $15 support level holds

5) $XOM - Exxon Mobil
Watching this pull back on $XOM, had abnormal call buying a couple of weeks ago.

Monday, June 2, 2014

2nd June - Swing Charts

1) Thompson Creek Metals - Long $TC
21.65% float short. Good buy here. Should be headed to $3.00 if overall markets stay positive this weak. Risk is small in this case. Might want to increase stop loss below $2.79 in order to give it time to run. I wouldn't bet on a break above $3.00, but could be making a higher low here and heading back to the resistance level.
Risk: $2.79 (0.72%)
Reward: $3.00 (6.3%)

2) Corning Inc - Long $GLW
I don't usually like betting on breakouts but this one has consistently been making higher lows. Will only consider this one if it opens green on Monday. Would be safer to wait for the breakout to happen first before buying. Not very good risk/reward here, but will keep on watch as chart is bullish
Risk: $20.77 (2.55%)
Reward: $22.00 (3.2%)

3) Alon USA Energy, Inc - $ALJ 

This one is my favorite this week. 20 MA and 50 MA have just crossed, which isn't something I usually pay attention to but other traders might find interesting. I think this has a good chance of heading back to $16.50. Formed a nice base above $14.00 and now perking up. You should definitely raise your stop losses as you go along, if this starts to work out.
Risk: $14.56 (2.7%)
Reward: $16.00 + (10.7% or more)

4) Green Plains Renewable Energy - Long $GPRE
I would have this even more if it has made a higher low close to the resistance line. But breakouts in Up-trending markets is usually a good bet. Plus with 19% of the Float been short, this could be a squeezer.
Risk: $28.64 (2%)
Reward: $30.36 (4% or more)

5) Olin Corp - $OLN
I'm a buyer if it breaks the 20MA. It is pretty much right on the 20MA right now. 18% of float is short so this could squeeze. Not the best risk/reward ratio. But I do like the chart
Risk: $26.63 (2.3%)
Reward: $28.20 (3.4%)

6) Angie's List - Long $ANGI
29.2% of float is short. Could be having a minor squeeze. Watching to see if it can remain above the 20MA

Note: I am somewhat long-biased right now, but that will definitely change if the overall markets act. This is NOT investment advice. Always do your own duel diligence.



Sunday, May 25, 2014

25th May - Swing Charts

Hey guys, here's a few interesting charts I found. These could make for very good swing trades if the markets keep heading higher - as these are mostly long setups. Good luck to everyone

1) Hawaiian Holdings ($HA) - {Breakout Play}
Very strong overall chart, nearing a break out at key $15 resistance.
Risk: $14.32 (4%)
Reward: $15.00 +

2) American Airlines Group ($AAL) - {Breakout Play}

Strong overall bullish chart. Has been making higher lows. Notice how it maintains $39.00 area in spite of lower volume $40.00 could be key. Risk is higher low
Risk: $37.76 (3.5%) 
Reward: $40.00 +

3) Cemax S.A.B ($CX) - {Breakout Play}


Strong overall chart. Has been making higher lows so should make for good risk/reward
Risk: $12.50 (2.8%)
Reward: $13.00 +

4) Thompson Creek Metals Company ($TC) - {Breakout Play}
Has been making higher lows. Very unlikely that it would break $3.00, but could at least reach it if volume keeps up. Higher percentage risk. Should actually be higher based on where support is, so be careful with size on this one
Risk: $2.72 (5.5%)
Reward: $3.00 

5) CYS Investments ($CYS) - {Breakout Play}
Looks to be squeezing higher. Has been making higher lows.
Risk: $8.80 (2.7%)
Reward: $9.50 

6) Veeva Systems ($VEEV) - {Squeeze Play}
Has a short interest of 23.66% and seems to be bottoming out. Would have loved to see it report good news at some point, but this break out above $20 could start to scare shorts. Lower priority for me, but would be watching.

7) Trulia Inc. ($TRLA) - {Squeeze Play}
Similar idea as $VEEV above. Has very high short interest - 41.43%. Would have loved to seen it report to good news to scare some shorties. Could get interesting if it breaks $40 but lower priority for me right now. 

8) Walter Investment Management Corp. ($WAC)  - {Squeeze Play}

Short interest is 20.25%. Had a nice run after reporting earnings on May 8th. Watching to see how it acts around $30.00


Good luck to every one this week. Signed The Rock Trader

You can follow me on twitter HERE - @rock_alerts

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The 9 Minute Swing Trade

Since Tim wouldn't stop bombarding my email with threats about calling "his Lawyer". I thought I might give his lawyers some interesting info to work with. Well look what I found while going through my inbox.

 Notice the statement "goal is to make 15%-30% in 1-2 days short-term". Also notice the posting time; 05/06 12:17:59 PM.
 Now look what happens 9 minutes later


I call this the "9 minute Swing Trade". I use the term Swing Trade because that's the term for a trade that lasts between 1-2 days. And I use the term "9 minute" because the trade was closed within 9 minutes. Now of course, this trade isn't illegal. Just thought it was interesting to see what can happen when "several chatrooms/newsletters piggyback...." on a trade.

In Conclusion: Tim, I don't scare easy. Want to call your lawyers? Fine. The Rock Trader's lawyers will be in contact with you soon as well. And trust me, I have some pretty damn good lawyers. In other words, Bring it on!

I've been pretty distracted lately but here's my trade-tip for the day.

Trade tip of the day: I am pretty short-biased on $FEYE going into tomorrow's lock-up expiration. Will be watching this one very closely.

Have a good-day everyone. Signed The Rock Trader

Note: I understand that Profit.ly owns the Intellectual Property/Copy-wright to the text above. However, I am using these texts under the "Fair use" Intellectual Property Law

How to Run A Pump and Dump


The OTC markets have slowed down recently so I have been a slightly more cautious with my trading. One stock did catch my eye on my scanner - $MEDL (Mobile Holdings Inc). $MEDL might seem familiar to subscribers of Timothy Sykes newsletter service. I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to teach you guys how to run a Pump and dump. Take notes guys this is about to get interesting.

Step 1: Buy Up a tonne of Shares in the Micro-cap stock of your choice

This is important guys, if you wanna run a pump and dump you have to get in first. I suppose this part must seem pretty obvious, but I think it is very important for people with little experience on pumping stocks. Above shows the Time/Sales history of $MEDL between 9:30AM (Market Open) and 9:49AM EST. For those who may not know, the "Time/Sales" shows the amount of shares traded. It also shows the time at which the trade was executed. You can find this information on most trading platforms. Personally, I use Equity Feed for my Level 2 and Time/sales information.  The picture above may not be very clear so I will show you a simple excel screenshot showing the trading executions.
The screenshot above shows the total summation of shares traded in $MEDL between 9:30AM to 9:49AM. The summation was calculated with Microsoft Excel. As you can clearly see, a total of 142300 shares had been traded between 9:30AM to 9:49AM. Thus completes step 1. Note, thousands more shares were purchased minutes after my screenshot. So I cannot be sure exactly when this "guru's" very first or last purchase of $MEDL was, I certainly cannot verify if he was the first, second or third buyer. The time/sales history above shows the "overall" trade history between the specified time.

Step 2: Send a buy "Alert" to your subscribers
Check. Easy part assuming you already have a solid subscriber base. Try to come up with a good reason for them to buy. If you can find a nicely written article online to support your position, that usually helps. I'll give you an example of what a good "alert" should look like.
Above is a great example of a good alert. Notice some key words; "Facebook" - A $152 Billion dollar company. Also observe the potential gains "Microcaps can run 30-50-100%", this is sure to get people interested! Notice how this stock guru - Timothy Sykes - claims to have bought 142500 shares of $MEDL at the time of the alert (9:51 AM). Does that number seem  familiar? Refer back to Step 1. The time/sales shows that 142300 shares were purchased by 9:49 AM. This means that most of the shares purchased in $MEDL were purchased by this guru. This is great because you would want maximize your gains from the Pump, if this were one. 

Step 3: Dump your shares on Subscribers for Some Solid Profits
So now you've done the hard work. You've purchased the shares, sent out the alerts now its time to make bank! Dump your shares and ring that cash register, you've earned it!
Congratulations! You just made bank on your own subscribers.
Notice the intra-day chart below.

Important to note; Only Tim himself would know his true intention. I am not accusing him of "dumping" shares on subscribers purposely. But having a strong follower base would definitely help create spikes in stocks.

Homework Questions: 1) Would this stock have spiked as quickly as it did if this guru didn't have a large subscriber base?
2) Would the guru have made as much money on this trade without sending out his "alert"?

Well at least people made money off short-selling $MEDL
Hmmm...seems like these guys above think $MEDL was a pump.

Note: As you can see, the above post has been written with some humor in mind. I'm certainly not suggesting anyone performs a "pump and dump". The point of this post is to draw comparisons between this trade and what a "pump and dump" looks like.

I am not accusing this guru of running a pump and dump. However I do think this would be great way to run one if you had a solid subscriber/ follower base. I mean as far as I know, $MEDL DO have a working relationship with Facebook. So that part of the guru's statement was not "false". I do find it quite fascinating that this "guru" thought this rumor could make the stock run, but somehow he seems to be one of the few buyers of the stock before his "alert". This article simply expresses my opinion which is; this trade closely resembles a "Pump and Dump". This is very different from accusing Tim of being a "Pump and Dumper".

Tim himself said in his chat-room "MEDL certainly trades like a pump & dump...". If even he himself observed the similarity between the way MEDL trades and a "pump & dump", he cannot be surprised when someone else sees the same similarity and raises questions about it. Especially considering his history with stock promotion.

Timothy Sykes's History of Stock Promotion: In March of 2012, Michael Goode wrote a very intriguing article about Sykes and stock promotion. The article was titled "On Timothy Sykes becoming a Stock Promoter and Promoting IRYS" The article basically describes how Timothy Sykes was compensated $100,000 to promote IRYS. Thats right, I said it. Timothy Sykes was compensated to promote a stock. Here's an excerpt written by Michael Goode:
You can read the rest of his article HERE
Timothy Sykes wrote about this a couple of years ago. Here's an excerpt from Sykes blog : 
How nice of him to take the $100,000 for the good of his subscribers. The rest of Sykes article can be found HERE


Be careful who you trust, choose your 'guru' wisely and good-luck seeking alpha. Signed the Rock Trader

You can follow me on Twitter here - @rock_alerts



Monday, May 12, 2014

Trade Recap: Profiting from Predictable Patterns

So today, $DRL-Doral Financial had another insane move closing near 25% above Friday's close. It traded nearly 11 million shares today and has now almost doubled since Thursday. I traded $DRL intraday a few times today and came out with a pretty decent profit. Today, I'm going to emphasize why its' important to understand how a specific stock acts. I will show you the intra-day chart for $DRL from Friday first.
So the image on the left shows $DRL intra-day chart from Friday. The blue resistance line is the $3.00 mark. As you can see, the stock shot straight the day until about late afternoon when it hit the $3.00 mark and pulled back. This is a very significant point in the chart. Because not only is it a resistance point, it is also at a whole number  - $3.00. Whole numbers are very important "psychological" points in technical analysis. This is partly due to the fact that a lot of people put their stop losses at whole number points. As you can see on the chart, $DRL had a slow "grind" upwards for the next two hours. As soon as it broke through the $3.00 mark, it ripped upwards and had a high of about $4.00. Unfortunately, I was away from my trading desk when the break-out occurred so I did take advantage of it. You can see what happens after $DRL acted it went "parabolic". "Parabolic" simply means a stock has gone straight up very quickly without a pull back or consolidation. Usually when a stock moves up this quickly, the eventual drop is very sudden. So as it usually occurs in parabolic stock moves, $DRL eventually pulled back down and closed around $3.00. I took a small short position during Friday's late afternoon fade, but I did not hold for very long though because I was worrisome that $DRL's low float (Just 6 million shares) could lead to a short squeeze. I did however add it to my watchlist going into this week.
Monday Intra-day:
Now I'm gonna show you today's (Monday) intra-day chart for $DRL

Now the image on the right was the chart for today (Monday). As you can see, it is very similar to Friday's intra-day chart. As soon as I saw the stock price break above $3.48, I knew it had a good chance of squeezing to above the $4.00 range. This is why it is important to understand what stock you're trading and how it moves. Its also very important not to try to "guess" when the pull-back would happen. As you can see, at $4.00 the chart was pretty over-extended already. But if you went ahead and shorted at $4, you would have been been down 10% as the squeeze continued. This kind of move is very common with low float stocks so it is important to be patient with short positions. I had three good shorts on $DRL. 1st short was at $4.09 then covered at $3.97. Second short was $3.96 the covered at $3.84. Third short was at $4.19 (on the bounce) and covered at $4.02 into the wash-out. Three small scalps but profits and consistency add up. So quick recap on what we learned today:

1. Study the stocks you have on your watch-list for predictable moves
2. Exercise patience when starting a short position on a "parabolic" move, trying to "guess" the top can be very risky.
3. Always take your profits when you have them, you can never go broke by taking profits.

Hope this helps you on you trading journey. Good luck seeking alpha

Follow me on twitter here - @rock_alerts

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Timothy Sykes, Short Selling and Racist Tweets

We can disagree on trading positions all day, there is nothing wrong or new about that. People have disagreed  on trades since Wall Street was just a wall. But I think we can all agree there is no place for racism simply because you disagree with someone's opinion on a trade. The lowest point about today's Twitter argument regarding $PGFY-which most of you witnessed - was Timothy Sykes racist tweet to Modern_rock. Take a look below for yourself.
The above tweet has now been deleted by Timothy Sykes, but I took this screenshot from someone who captured the tweet before he deleted it. Whether you were short $PGFY, long $PGFY or had no position on it - like myself - I think we can all agree that there is no place for this time of racism nor was it necessary.  I found myself wondering what consequences Tim Sykes would face if he were a more public figure. After all, Donald Sterling - the owner of the NBA Los Angelos Clippers - was given a lifetime ban for his racist remarks. Hopefully Timothy Sykes can conduct himself with more class or at the very least leave the racist language out of arguments.

For those who are unaware what the arguement was about, below is a little background:

So the long awaited StockTips was finally released this weekend. The  pick as you probably already know was $PGFY - Pingify International Inc.
The smart money got in late last Friday, as the pick had been leaked onto StockTips Facebook page by a "VIP" member. Traders who got in early got a nice gap up on Monday morning to sell into. Going into Tuesday, Timothy Sykes and I got into a little argument about "Short selling" $PGFY. For the record, I had and have no position whatsoever in $PGFY. But as a "guru" it may serve Timothy Sykes well to appear to be perfect. Now I have no problem with that. I do not subscribe to Timothy Sykes nor would I recommend him. But I would confess, I do have a terrible allergy for Bullshit and I tend to call it out every now and then. Tim Sykes began tweeting what I would describe as "excuses" just in case he was wrong, I suppose in order not to lose subscribers. Here's how our conversation went
Now I understand the concept behind "finding shares", I short sell all the time, but since when did shorting pumps stop being about wins/losses? The last time I checked, people trade stocks in order to make profits not losses, so wins/losses do matter. But perhaps this is the persona he feels he needs to maintain - just my guess.
Above is another screenshot of our conversation. Curious to know what trading is about if it isn't about making profits and doing what you love. But hey, I don't claim to know everything. Notice below how Tim takes credit for someone else's hard-work. I suppose in the effort of promoting his "alerts" service and Profit.ly which he linked in his tweet.Cactus Trading hits the nail on the head with his tweet. I suppose Tim Sykes invented penny stock trading and shorting as well. Haha. Full disclosure; Elkwood66 (real name Eric Wood) is a millionaire trader whom - in my opinion - is NOT a Tim Sykes "Student" but a subscriber. He is also a subscriber to the InvestorsUnderground chatroom for which you can sign up HERE. Although he gave 'some' credit to Tim Sykes a couple years back in a youtube video, he made it pretty clear in a more recent video that Tim Sykes service was somewhat inadequate and that InvestorsUnderground took his trading to the next level. Just fast forward the video to 4:25, you can see the video HERE. Now this is not a recommendation for InvestorsUnderground, everyone is free to make their own choice, I just can't help but call out BS when I see it. In my opinion, Eric Wood made Eric Wood a successful trader, obviously with a lot help from others. A couple of Tim's subscribers cancelled within minutes, while he began attacking a prominent trader on twitter Modern_Rock. Modern Rock had been on long $PGFY, but stayed disciplined and still managed to make more money that Tim Sykes by short selling $PGFY intra-day. Modern Rock is one the best traders out there and is always willing to give free and valuable advice. I recommend you follow him on twitter HERE if you haven't already.
 Above shows a picture of a cancelled Tim Alerts subscription. Below is a picture of another cancelled subscriber.
As you can see from the "renew" date, these are two different subscribers who cancelled within minutes. This pressured Tim Sykes to eventually backpedal and issue an "apology" - if I can even call it that. My guess is his "apology" was made due to the fear of losing "subscribers". Subscribers that help put money in his pocket but somehow he fails to treat them with respect.



I wrote this blog just to clarify questions I had gotten regarding today's twitter argument between Timothy Sykes and myself. I would be posting more trading recaps in future blogs and explaining more chart patterns.

You can follow me on twitter here - @rock_alerts ...Good luck seeking alpha,
Signed, Rock Trader

Sunday, May 4, 2014

The Irony of People Protectors

Short sellers have profited from Stock manipulation and promotions for years. Timothy Sykes has popularized the idea of short selling "Super nova's" - Over extended chart patterns of penny stock promotions. A new breed of short sellers have descended upon the OTC market over the last couple of years. I like to call these traders "People protectors". The irony of this title is this breed of traders couldn't care less about people. They use tweets and articles to scare people into dumping their stock, hence profiting from short positions. A tactic not so dissimilar from the Seeking Alpha pumps on the long side we have seen over the last few months or more. Below is a picture of one of the more notable Seeking Alpha 'pumps' - YOD.
 The image on the left shows the chart for YOD - You On Demand Inc. The highlighted section shows the impact of Seeking Alpha's positive article. The article described YOD as "The Netflix of China". The stock price went from $2.50 to over $7.00, and has now come back down to $2.70. Short sellers have now taken to Seeking Alpha to promote their short positions and create panic in promoted stocks. As a short seller myself, I do not deny that these "dumps" in promoted stocks are inevitable. But there is no doubt that Seeking Alpha articles can certainly hasten the process. One of such Seeking Alpha short sellers is  Penny Stock Realist. His strategy involves short selling promotions. Most of his shorts usually involve writing seeking alpha articles. To be clear, I have no personal issue against Penny Stock Realist. But I do find it very ironic that he spends as much time bashing promoters but profits off of them. As short sellers, what would we short if promos or manipulation did not exist? Isn't bashing promoters biting the hands that feed him? As for the idea of "protecting people', will Penny Stock Realist spend time writing articles to bash promos if he did not have a financial incentive to do so? Fact is...Stock Realist doesn't give a crap about people. He writes articles to scare stock holders into selling their shares hence sending the stock price lower, leading to profits on his short position. But hey, I have no problem with wanting to make profits either on the long side or short side. After all, I am a proud capitalist. My only disagreement with Stock Realist is this; Why does posing as a "people protector", bashing stocks and profiting from promos make one much different from the Promoters themselves? Fact is Short sellers benefit from Promos just as much as the promoters themselves. Wonder what these "People protectors" would do if Promoters ever went out of business. A question that shut Stock Realist up and left him dumbfounded. I guess he's never thought about that. Just my two cents.


Monday, April 28, 2014

Three for Three on Thursday's Stock Predictions

Wow. What a day this past Friday (April 25, 2014). I stuck to my trading rules. Ended up holding only three position going into Friday morning, long positions in $LLEN, $BCCI and $BTCS. All for the intention of a gap up/ morning spike. I sold all three positions for solid profits. These were all predictable patterns in relatively liquid OTC stocks. I understand most people may not like trading OTC, but certain patterns can actually be very predictable. Here's a tweet showing my Thursday prediction.


Now remember, these were strictly GAP-PLAYS. Very different from making a swing trade. The plan was to sell within the first hour or so. Meaning for such plays there is no intention to hold onto them all day. The reason I make this distinction is because sometimes, stocks gap up and then fade through out the day when selling pressure hits. $LLEN was a good example of this. It had a nice morning spike up to $1.15. I actually sold a little too early on this one. But the stock later faded all the way down to as low as $0.70, before closing at $0.80. Remember, most OTC companies are frauds. $LLEN is no exception. But if you understand the right patterns, you can profit from the predictability. Below is a chart showing $LLEN action on Friday
So on the left is an intra-day chart on Friday (25/04) of $LLEN. As you can see, although it closed down on the day, there was certainly money to be made on the morning spike. Below is the intra-day chart from the previous day (Thursday).

As you can see from the chart, $LLEN had a very strong close. It actually closed very near its hod (high of the day). I made the call on the twitter the day earlier and was very happy to see people made money off my prediction.


Remember, stocks are simply trading vehicles. Always have a plan and be ready to take quick profits or cut losses when necessary. Good luck seeking alpha.

Follow me on twitter @rock_alerts for real time updates. See my twitter page for my disclaimer. I am NOT an investment adviser.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Trade Recap: Nailing the perfect Gap play

$PLPL (Plandai Biotechnology) is an OTC stock currently trading under $1.00. Like most otc stocks, it is not a company I would ever recommend as an 'investment'. But when the right setups present themselves, stocks like these can make great short term trades. On Monday 21 April, $PLPL caught my attention. It had a nice spike that morning and was breaking out over its highs in the late afternoon. As seen on the screenshot below.
  I took a screenshot on my phone as I was away from my computer when the breakout occurred. This type of breakouts can be great buying opportunities. I immediately picked up some shares for a long position overnight right before the close. As you can see the stock closed right at its highs - $0.79. This was a near perfect scenario for me. One of the common questions new traders ask me is, "How do you know that a stock would gap up/ spike the next morning?". There is no 100% correct answer to this question as I have no crystal-ball. But my answer is usually this - " if the stock market closed at 4.15pm EST instead of 4.00pm EST, do you think the stock would trade higher or lower? " Because in theory, the next 15 minutes after the market close is the first 15 minutes of the next trading day - especially considering most OTC's do not trade after hours. Now for a stock like $PLPL which was breaking out to new highs and making higher 'lows' - odds are the stock would trade higher if it had this hypothetical 'extra 15 mins'. You can also see the volume spike near the eod. I would always recommend caution when holding OTC stocks overnight - especially weed stocks. SEC halts have become quite common. Now I'll show you the chart  for $PLPL the next morning.



I forgot to take a screenshot of the chart earlier on 22/04, so that's why 23/04 is included in the picture above. But I took the long position on 21/04 so 22/04 (the left side of the chart) - was the next morning I sold. As you can see on the chart, $PLPL had a nice continuation the next morning. It gapped up and spiked all the way to $0.87 before falling all the way back down. I sold at around $0.86, a nearly 10% gain in just a few minutes. How did I know the stock would tank right after it hit $0.87? The truth is I didn't know that for sure. But I noticed a wall of sellers start to 'stack up' on the Level 2, so I decided to play it safe and sold. Remember the goal for the trade was to play it for a gapper / morning spike. So keeping those rules in mind - I really had no reason to hold it for much longer than a half hour or so, unless the Level 2 gave me reason to believe the stock could keep going. And in this case, it gave me no such indication. Hopefully this helps you guys, as I've been getting a lot of questions concerning Gap plays. Special thanks to @cactustrading and @kroyrunner89. They are 'must-follow' traders and reading their thoughts on twitter has really improved my trading. As always do your dd, and always keep learning. Good luck seeking alpha. 
Follow me on twitter @rock_alerts.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Why no one should be mad at HappyPennyStocks

My twitter timeline today was filled with angry 'investors' in HappyPennyStocks latest stock pick $VTPI. $VTPI (Vital Products) is just another OTC sub penny stock. For those who don't know who HappyPennyStocks is, he's a self-proclaimed stock promoter. He's last stock promo $CTTG had two big up days and was up over 2000% until it finally collapsed on the third day. Today's $VTPI was on the extreme end of what I like to call a 'Dump Promo'. You can see his promo video HERE. I call $VTPI a dump promo because except for the first ten minutes after the initial gap up, the stock tanked big time well below the opening price.
Like with most stock promotions, a lot of people got burned when the dump started. But is HappyPennyStocks really to blame? I mean he created this crappy pump, but I'm pretty sure he never held a gun to anyone's head to buy the stock. I personally have criticized him on twitter because he certainly has been misleading and offered a lot of newbies horrible advice. But at what point does personal responsibility come into play? As a trader, if you cannot evaluate yourself critically, then you are bound to repeat the same mistakes. People placing their buy orders 10%  above the ask price, got horrible fills. Others got in when the stock was up nearly 1000% and kept their fingers crossed hoping it would keep going...really? I mean how can you be surprised when no one wants to buy a sub penny stock up over 900% on the day. And as we all know, the stock market is a simple game of supply and demand. When the demand disappears and can no longer sustain supply, the stock tanks. HappyPennyStocks received a flurry of attacks, some of which became downright personal.
Although I do not support personal attacks, I was happy to see veteran traders like Modern Rock call him out. Hopefully people can learn from this experience. My biggest issue about HappyPennyStocks is I am still unsure what his full agenda is. First he makes a video talking about how this stock was 'going to the moon'. Then huge sellers come in and dump on everyone else, and now it turns out he 'never owned a single share'.
HappyPennyStocks did not disclose this in his video. Although this may or may not be legal, I wonder how Happy - Pun intended - his followers were to find out that the promoter of $VTPI didn't think it was a good idea to buy $VTPI. HPS (HappyPennyStocks) got caught in a web of lies thanks to some tough good old-fashioned twitter interrogation. At the beginning, he stated he was never paid to promote stocks.
 Well it turns out that was a lie. He was actually PAID to promote $VTPI. I am pretty sure failing to disclose this is illegal. But I do not expect the SEC to come knocking on his doors anytime soon. The crazy part of this story is the people who lost the most money on $VTPI today, will be the first to buy his next pick. All in the hopes of 'heading to the moon'

Follow me on twitter @Rock_alerts