The process of buying penny stocks is different from that of normal stocks. Find out details on how to carry out these transactions.
Penny stocks can be found outside the normal exchanges that make up the conventional more popular companies. If you are interested in buying these stocks, you must first know where to buy them and how to carry out these transactions.
Where to buy penny stocks?
To buy penny stocks, you must be open to the risk associated with these types of investments. Once you have concluded that these stocks fit within your overall investment strategy, you can look to large exchanges or the OTC and pink sheet market to buy penny stocks and carry out transactions through a broker.
Read on for detailed steps on how to buy penny stocks.
6 Steps To Buying Penny Stocks
Determine the type of penny stocks you want to buy
Penny stocks can be bought either through traditional large exchanges or through the OTC market. OTC stocks are unlisted and so there is no central exchange for the market. Figuring where the stocks trade are is crucial to the next step. Research these stocks and make sure they are right for your investment strategy and fit into your portfolio.
Open your brokerage account accordingly to get started
Full service or discount brokers, if you have determined that you will be purchasing OTC stock, you must find a broker that allows for these types of transactions. All orders of OTC securities must be made through market makers who actually carry inventory of securities rather than just matching orders.
Explore your trading platform to get the most out of it
If it is an online platform, make sure you know how to maximize the tools available to you. Look for a tutorial on the service that can give you the in’s and out’s of the website. Trading penny stocks may sometimes require quick action emphasizing the importance of knowing how to navigate the system.
Fund your account with at least the minimum deposit
Look out for minimum deposits when opening the account. Make sure that the platform offers a quick and easy way to transfer money into and out of the account. This is critical as penny stocks are time sensitive and require quick action when making a trade.
Place your trades using limit orders
More important for online platforms than full service brokers, limit orders will ensure that your order does not fill higher than anticipated when purchasing your stock. Understanding order types is extremely important when trading stocks. For OTC stocks, you can refer to the Over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) for the stock’s bid and ask prices.
Follow your penny stock investments closely
A common practice with larger cap blue-chip stocks is to buy and hold, rarely monitoring them in order to ensure for a long holding period. Once you’ve purchased your penny stocks on the other hand, they require constant supervision as their prices can swing rather quickly.
The process of purchasing penny stocks can differ from purchasing regular stocks depending on the exchange of which the stocks are trading on. Understanding and perfecting the process of purchasing these stocks is a step in the right direction towards a successful practice. Take Wall Street Survivor’s Using Online Resources course to ensure you are using the best trading tools available to make you a better investor.
Ranking of Top Stock Newsletters Based on Last 3 Years of Stock Picks as of August 16, 2025
We are paid subscribers to dozens of stock and option newsletters. We actively track every recommendation from all of these services, calculate performance, and share our results of the top performing stock newsletters whose subscriptions fees are under $500. The main metric to look for is "Return vs SP500" which is their return above that of the S&P500. So, based on August 16, 2025 prices:
Best Stock Newsletters
| Rank | Stock Newsletter | Picks Return | Return vs SP500 | Picks w Profit | Max % Return | Current Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Alpha Picks | 74.7% | 51.1% | 78% | 969% | Sept, 2025 Promotion: Save $50 |
| Summary: 2 picks/month based on Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating; Retail Price is $499/yr. See complete details and analysis in our Alpha Picks Review. | ||||||
| 2. |  Moby.co | 52.5% | 18.1% | 73% | 2,406% | Sept, 2025 Promotion:Next pick free! |
| Summary: 60-150 stock picks per year, segmented by industry; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Moby Review. | ||||||
| 3. |  Zacks Top 10 | 33.0% | 15.1% | 73% | 170% | Sept, 2025 Promotion:$1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 10-25 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 4. |  TipRanks SmartInvestor | 18.6% | 7.6% | 65% | 386% | Current Promotion: Save $180 |
| Summary: About 1 pick/week focusing on short term trades; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2015. Retail Price is $379/yr. Read our TipRanks Review. | ||||||
| 5. |  Stock Advisor | 41.7% | 6.1% | 76% | 299% | Sept, 2025 Promotion: Get $100 Off |
| Summary: 2 picks/month and 2 Best Buy Stocks lists focusing on high growth potential stocks over 5 years; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Review. | ||||||
| 6. |  Action Alerts Plus | 25.9% | 4.9% | 65% | 210% | Current Promotion: None |
| Summary: 100-150 trades per year, lots of buying and selling and short-term trades. Read our Jim Cramer Review. | ||||||
| 7. | Rule Breakers | 35.6% | 1.2% | 78% | 273% | Current Promotion: Save $200 |
| Summary: 2 picks/month focusing on disruptive technology and business models; Lifetime average return of 355% vs S&P500's 149% since 2005; Now part of Motley Fool Epic. Read our Motley Fool Epic Review. | ||||||
| 8. | Zacks Home Run Investor | 3.5% | -1.3% | 44% | 200% | Sept, 2025 Promotion:$1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 40-50 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 9. | IBD Leaderboard ETF | 11.4% | -1.8% | n/a | n/a | Sept, 2025 Promotion:Save $129/yr |
| Summary: Maintains top 50 stocks to invest in based on IBD algorithm; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Investors Business Daily. | ||||||
| 10. | Stock Advisor Canada | 23.5% | -4.6% | 69% | 378% | Sept, 2025 Promotion: Save $100 |
| Summary: 1 pick/month from the Toronto stock exchange; Retail Price is CD$199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Canada Stock Advisor Review. | ||||||
| Top Ranking Stock Newsletters based on their 2024, 2023, 2022 stock picks' performance as compared to S&P500. S&P500's return is based on average return of S&P500 from date each stock pick is released. NOTE: To get these results you must buy equal dollar amounts of each pick on the date the stock pick is released. Investor Business Daily Top 50 based on performance of FFTY ETF. Performance as of August 16, 2025. | ||||||