Dec 28
This blog has reached the end of its life. I have decided to re-brand myself and you can find me blogging at GoodeTrades.com (which also has all my posts and comments from this blog and my GoodeValue.com blog). I have a new Twitter too, GoodeTrades, and a new Profit.ly user account: MichaelGoode.
This blog and my GoodeValue.com blog will remain up but there will be no new posts.
Dec 28
We raised a total of $4400 for the Salvation Army of Detroit. Thanks to all who gave — you’ll receive a token of my appreciation soon.
Dec 1
First, thank you to the 10 people who have donated. I appreciate your generosity — no matter how much you gave.
Due to a pathetic response (only 10 donations) I am extending my 2011 Red Kettle Challenge, where I match every single online donation you make (up to a maximum of $10,000). My target was extremely ambitious, but I should hope that I can get at least another few donations. I have already matched the $1975 in donations that have been made.
This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
I ask you to join me in raising money for The Salvation Army; the money will be used in Detroit, a city that needs not just money but also love. I will match any gifts through my donation link 100% through December 15th, up to a maximum of $10,000. So if readers of this blog donate $8,000 by December 1st using my link, I will match that with my own $8,000 gift. So if you have benefited from this blog, please consider donating some of the money I have either saved you or helped you make.
I am far from the greatest trader or the richest trader in the world. But I still make much more money than I need, even after accounting for the absurd sums I sometimes spend on fancy restaurants. I do not feel that I need to apologize for my success. I do not feel like I took from anyone so I do not owe anyone anything. That being said, I have compassion for those who truly need and those who truly suffer, the poorest among us. If I cannot find it within myself to give out of my abundance, then I certainly do not love others.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Why the Salvation Army? I am familiar with their work and have given to them in the past and I know they are an effective organization helping some of the neediest people in the United States and throughout the world. For further details of why to give to the Salvation Army I defer to my favorite personal finance blogger, FreeMoneyFinance, whose $5k red kettle challenge was the inspiration for mine:
I’ve worked with and gotten to know Salvation Army people and organizations all across America. I’ve talked to the people who are part of the organization and the people they are helping (and I’m talking about real-life “needy” people on the streets of Grand Rapids, Atlanta, Detroit, and so on). So I know they are making a HUGE difference. Because I’ve seen their work first-hand, the Salvation Army is an organization I know I can fully support.
Now some of you will object to the fact that the Salvation Army is a Christian-based organization. If your personal convictions make you want to not give for those reasons, I respect that and I hope you give generously to the charity of your choice. But if you’ve read FMF for more than two seconds I think it’s pretty apparent that I have no problem giving to a charity that’s Christian-based. Plus the fact that I’ve seen their work in person makes the Salvation Army a no-brainer choice for me.
Others may be concerned that the Salvation Army spends the bulk (or even a large part) of their money on proselytizing people or only on those of their faith. I can say with 100% certainty that this is not the case. Yes, it’s because of their faith that they help others, but they do not push their beliefs or force recipients to become Christians to get aid. They simply want to “do the most good” (their slogan) and that in and of itself is their reward. And as I’ve said, I’ve talked to many people they’ve helped and know they are doing good, selfless work to those who need the help most.
Others may wonder about the Salvation Army’s impact as an organization. Charity Watch gives them an “A-”, a pretty good grade (FYI, St. Jude’s and the Susan G. Komen Search for the Cure get B+, MDA and Livestrong get an A-). Again, I have no problems giving to them based on this measure either.
Disclaimer: Much of the above description of The Salvation Army was taken from the FreeMoneyFinance blog post on his kettle challenge and I found it better written than I could do on short notice. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
Oct 26
After the SEC reinstated a new version of the uptick rule following the 2008 financial crisis, there has been very little information available online. If you search for “uptick rule” most of the info you will find is on the old uptick rule. The current version isn’t really an uptick rule at all, but rather an upbid rule. This new version was first put into effect in November 2010.
Simply put, shares of a stock cannot be sold short at or below the best bid when the rule is in effect. The short seller must sell on the offer and wait for a buyer to fill his offer. The rule goes into effect when a stock’s price decreases by 10% or more from its previous day’s close. Once a stock has dropped 10% from its previous day’s close (even if just briefly dropping that far) the rule will then be in effect for the rest of the day and the next trading day. The rule can only be triggered during regular trading hours although if it is triggered it remains in force during after-hours and pre-market trading.
For those who use Interactive Brokers’ TWS platform, a little red circle will appear to the right of the stock description when the uptick rule is in effect. If you mouse over the red circle it will say “Short sale restriction is in effect from [date] to [date].”
In the screenshot below, IB TWS indicates that the uptick rule is in effect for AMR, FMCN, NLST, PEIX, and BIOF. Click to see full-size image:
There are some exemptions to the upbid rule but they do not apply to small traders. See this broker’s description of the exceptions.
The complete uptick rule can be found in this March 10th 2011 amendment to Regulation SHO (pdf).
Disclaimer: No position. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
I haven’t done any posts like this so far this year so I am going pretty far back. Please remind me in the comments of any big pumps I forget and I’ll add them. See my last pump and dump recap from January to see some mailer pumps from the very beginning of the year.
Mailer Pumps
SPLM – $400k snail mail pump. See an image of the disclaimer here. The last part of the disclaimer is the most interesting: “”In order to enhance public awareness of Sentry Petroleum Ltd., and other companies profiled by WER [World Energy Report] through the distribution of this report, ECA [Energy Capital Advisors] paid WER four hundred thousand dollars. These funds were applied towards costs associated with creating, printing, and distributing this report. ECA will pay no additional sums. WER, ECA, and those associated with them may own shares and effect transactions in securities of Sentry Petroleum Ltd and other companies mentioned in this publication the sale of which could adversely affect the share price. The owner of ECA owns approximately zero point two six (0.36) percent of the outstanding shares Sentry Petroleum Ltd [sic] and will not sell any of those shares within ninety days of the date of this mailing.” [emphasis mine]
KNKT – $800k pump from Capital Financial Media (CFM). See post here (unfortunately the pump website is offline).
UTOG – $2.5m mailer pump. See website www.AmericanEnergyReport.com Disclaimer: “AmericanEnergyReport.com has been retained by an unrelated third party to perform promotional and advertising services intended to increase investor awareness of UnionTown Energy Inc. (UTOG). To date, AmericanEnergyReport.com has received two million five hundred thousand US dollars from an unrelated third party for performing these services. The services performed have included profiling the company on the AmericanEnergyReport.com website and issuing opinions concerning UTOG in newsletters and press releases. AmericanEnergyReport.com has received this amount as a production budget for advertising efforts and will retain amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses as a fee for our services. In addition AmericanEnergyReport.com expects to receive an additional two million dollars cash in future compensation for the continuation of the marketing program for an additional 3 months and to cover marketing vendors to pay for the costs of creating and distributing this report online in an effort to build market awareness, and AmericanEnergyReport.com will disclose any future compensation.”
LEXG – The greatest pump I have ever seen and probably one of the best ever. Note not just the price movement but the incredible volume — the value of stock traded on its last big up day exceeded $100m. This had a $3.29m budget disclaimed on these two websites: http://www.smauthority.com/video and http://www.thestockdetective.com/lexg/
Disclaimer: “Lithium Exploration Group, (LEXG), the company featured in this issue, appears as paid advertising, paid by Gekko Industries to provide public awareness for LEXG. … CM [Circuit Media] has received and managed a total production budget of $3,296,800 for this advertising effort and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. TSD [TheStockDetective] is paid $50,000 as an editorial fee from CM and also expects to receive new subscribers as a result of this advertising effort.”
Please note that unlike most of the stock charts on this page, the chart below is not log scale, to make seeing the price action during the pumps easier to see.
JAMN – An incredibly successful pump, the second most successful pump I have ever seen, after LEXG. This was pumped by HackTheStockMarket.com; see the pump page here (or here or here). The name and address information required by the CAN-SPAM law from this pumper changed multiple times, which leads me to believe it was all fake. HackTheStockMarket disclosed only $15,500 in payment for the promotion. The disclaimer was an image that is shown below.
Please note that unlike most of the stock charts on this page, the chart below is not log scale, to make seeing the price action during the pumps easier to see.
AVVC – $1.8m budget disclosed on this mailer pump. Lots of speculators / traders / idiots lost big going long on this stock — it was the first big pump failure following a string of very successful pumps early this year. Disclaimer: “CFM has received and managed a total production budget of $1,800,000 for this online advertising effort and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. Breakaway Stocks is paid $5,000 as an editorial fee from CFM and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort.” from this website.
LOGL – $1.275m mailer pump — see the SI pump mailer message board.
TBBC – This was a large pump from multiple sources with over $800,000 in compensation. Following are those that I can find:
“Charles Payne’s Common Sense Newsletter received forty thousand dollars, as an editorial fee, from Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc., which it received from the featured Company. This company was chosen to be profiled after Charles Payne’s Common Sense Newsletter completed due diligence on the company. Charles Payne’s Common Sense Newsletter expects to generate revenue and new newsletter subscribers and valuable exposure, the amount of which is unknown at this time, resulting from the distribution of this report. Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc. received fifteen thousand, eight hundred dollars from the Company, for the costs of creating and distributing this report in an effort to build investor awareness.” from this pump website
“StockMarketLife.com has been retained by an unrelated third party whose principal is a shareholder of the featured company, The Brainy Brands Company Inc. (TBBC), to perform promotional and advertising services intended to increase investor awareness of TBBC. StockMarketLife.com expects to receive up to six hundred thousand US dollars from the unrelated third party for performing these services. The services performed have included profiling the company on the StockMarketLife.com website and issuing opinions, including Charles Paynes report, concerning TBBC on this website, online marketing, in newsletters and press releases. StockMarketLife.com has received this amount as a production budget for advertising efforts and will retain amounts over and above the cost of the production, copywriting services, mailing, media buying and other online distribution expenses as a fee for our services.” This disclaimer was also in emails from GreenGainers.com and PowerPennyStocks.com, which all appear to be run by the same person/company.
“PennyStockRewards.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asset Development Strategies Corp. Currently Asset Development Strategies Corp. has been compensated $50000.00 for this advertising program from a non-affiliated third party shareholder who will be selling stock in TBBC.”
WallStreetPennyStockAdvisors.com received $200,000
RYUN – I am not sure of the details of this pump.
AAGC – $1.26m budget disclosed. Absolute destruction. Michael Williams Market Movers was paid $20,000 by Citiglory Consultants Ltd and Citiglory paid $1,265,178 for the cost of the promotion — see the disclaimer (the bastards had it as an image that I have saved). See the online version of the mailer.
TKDN – $1.4m budget disclosed. Absolute destruction. Disclaimer: “CFM has received and managed a total production budget of $1,400,000 for this online advertising effort and will retain any amounts over and above the cost of production, copywriting services, mailing and other distribution expenses, as a fee for its services. M3 Profit Accelerator is paid $3,000 as an editorial fee from CFM and also expects to receive new subscriber revenue as a result of this advertising effort.” (CFM = Capital Financial Media). See the online version of the mailer at SmallCapFortunes
Note: on 12/19/2011 the pumps in this post run by the big three email pumpers were removed to a ReaperTrades Premium post and more info on those pumps was added.
Disclaimer: No positions. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
These were all tweeted one minute after the close today. These pumpers (that I had not heard of prior to today) disclaimed $179,999 in compensation for pumping AAGC (see the image of their disclaimer here). I am currently long 4000 shares of AAGC that I intend to sell within a few days.
Links to those tweets are below:
Disclaimer: Long 4000 shares of AAGC that I intend to sell within a few days. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
All of the following is quoted from documents filed in this case stemming from the alleged misappropriation of some stock promoters’ email lists: OTC Solutions LLC , Golden Dragon Media Inc, and Pudong LLC v. John Does 1-50 (link to Justia summary).
First, check out the original complaint from June 29th, 2010.
Each Plaintiff has numerous lists (“Subscriber Lists”), comprising anywhere from 25,000 to 65,000 subscribers. Each list has grown as a result of significant marketing efforts by Plaintiffs, which includes Internet-based advertising costs in excess of $30,000 per day. Each Plaintiff has numerous lists (“Subscriber Lists”), comprisinganywhere from 25,000 to 65,000 subscribers. Each list has grown as a result ofsignificant marketing efforts by Plaintiffs, which includes Internet-based advertising costs in excess of $30,000 per day.
The problem is the most effective pumpers, if their pump is being front-run by speculators, will just delay the pump or even cancel it. Pennypic (Pudong LLC) canceled their pump of WTKN in January 2009. BestDamnPennystocks has delayed a couple pumps over the last year. Golden Dragon Media / Pudong LLC / Free Penny Alerts LLC delayed their pump of GGRI from June 6th of this year until June 27th after people started front-running it.
Everyone and their mother believes that EVGI will be the next BestDamnPennyStocks pump & dump … and that makes it more likely that those speculators trying to front-run that pump will get seriously burned. While BestDamnPennyStocks has previously pumped at least one stock (MDFI on April 19) despite a massive front-run, the risks if they pull the pump at the last minute are far greater than the potential gains. RAPT, pumped by BestDamnPennyStocks on February 9th of this year, was actually supposed to be pumped on January 11th. The problem is that lots of traders figured this out and started to front-run RAPT. The result? The pump was delayed and as a result RAPT dropped from .40 to .18 in one day.
Disclaimer: No position. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.
I will be speaking again this year at Timothy Sykes’ 2011 Las Vegas Pennystocking Seminar, held this year at The Venetian from October 22nd to October 24th. I will be one of a number of penny stock traders who will be speaking there. Last year was quite informative and I suspect this year will be even better. If you decide to come, enter coupon code “REAPER” to save a bit of money.
Disclaimer: This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well. I receive an affiliate commission for anyone who signs up using my link / coupon code.
