Investing and the Internet

The business of investing in stocks has certainly moved full-force onto the Internet. Although only scratching the surface of what lies ahead, the explosion of on-line trading accounts during the past year alone is phenomenal. Major brokerage houses like Schwab and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ) are spending big dollars to secure a dominant position on the World Wide Web. So what does this really mean to the average investor? The one BIG thing it means is that, for the first time in history, we now have an invaluable tool at our disposal to use when buying and selling stock in public companies.

For the individual investor, the Web acts beautifully as a network designed to be a comprehensive source for gathering research and up-to-date information on the worldwide markets, investment strategies, corporate due diligence and much more. For years, professional analysts and stockbrokers have had timely information and insight at their fingertips. Unfortunately, because of the system, we had to wait for them to share it with us. By that time, the OBT (Optimum Buying Time) was probably gone. At OTC Journal, the goal is to provide our Subscribers with timely corporate profiles.

Recent survey's have shown that investors who trade on the Internet like to make their own decisions. They also like to do their own research on the companies they are considering making an investment. They don't want to have a stockbroker tell them what the "hottest" new company is going to be, they want to find it themselves. More and more companies now have financial "due diligence" Web Sites where current and potential investors and analysts can get up to date business, management, and financial information on a particular company. (All of the companies profiled by OTC Journal will have a comprehensive due diligence Web Site where our Subscribers can get the information necessary to make an informed decision.)

Always remember, an investment in small-cap and thinly traded stocks can be very risky. The investor needs complete information in order to make an investment decision. We believe that if you do proper due diligence and you begin to understand what makes small-cap and micro-cap stocks go up in price, then you can make substantial returns. The fact is, someone invested in MCI (and many more like them) at $1 - $5 per share when they were an up and coming small-cap company struggling to make their idea a reality. But, because Institutional money controls the primary public stock markets these days, the individual investor is starting to get squeezed out! However, the power and growth of the Internet is positioning itself as a way to level the playing field, as well as a way to save all of us money when executing trades. If you learn what to look for, there is room in almost every qualified investor's portfolio for the types of small-cap and micro-cap stocks that we profile.