So you have some free time and want to make some money. In college, there's a lot of ways to put together some booze money, but few are interesting. We're going to explain some of our methods we use when researching stocks to flip. Obviously, now's the time for a disclaimer even though it would be all your fault if you messed up anyways: WE'RE NOT TRAINED OR LICENSED INVESTORS, I BARELY PASSED ECON 102.

Penny stocks is the game. Yep, that's it, let your groans out now. No reputable magazine has ever said penny stocks were great to throw your money at and invest in, but here's the catch: we're not going to be investing. The only thing you'll read here today is how we flip stocks quickly, normally within a day or a week at most. Never "invest" in a penny stock unless you're part of the company.

First thing you need to figure out is how much you're going to gamble or "invest." For what we're about to write, several hundred dollars is fairly standard. Any more than that and you'll want to invest in better alternatives. I started out with $400 my first time and it worked out nicely.

The most important part of trading/flipping these stocks is doing your Due Diligence (DD). This includes knowing what the company does, how they make money, how often they update their PRs, whether they address shareholders often, etc. I typically look for a company that has been around for at least two years, has at least three PRs a month, and doesn't have a history of reverse-splits.

Never put money into a penny stock that has reverse-splits in its history, it means they dilute their shares. Also try not to invest in sub-penny stocks, in which each share is less than a penny. For instance, BGOI as of Friday (otcbb.com) is .0011 pps (price per share). Unless they have news saying something big is coming, and be cautious if they do, don't put money in sub-pennies.

After getting used to what to look for, here are some basics to flipping. Don't think you can get more when you actually make a profit. Take your profit and run. A decent flip on a penny stock is between 20-50%. Any more and you're risking a lot, though you do have a lot to gain. I typically have my orders set to making 30% profit while I'm in class or when I'm away from the internet during a trading day.

To get you more informed, here are a few sites I use when doing research:

Hot Stock Market - best forum I've come across for info on any stock. I heed their advice more often than other sites. Also, their "Trade journals and stock tips" section is quite helpful.

IHUB - be cautious about this forum. You'll see a lot of spam, but also occasionally you'll see some good findings members post. A good post will show their source. This site also tends to find the phone number of the company's TA (transfer agent) so you can call yourself to find info.

Common trading terms - I bookmarked this site long ago so I can easily go to the page, CTRL + F my term, and then find a definition quickly. You'll come across a lot of trading terms when in the forums, this site makes it easy to translate.

Abbreviations - as with terms, there are huge amounts of abbreviations used on forums and sites as well. This site's search option makes finding a term from an abbreviation really quite simple.

That's all for today, tomorrow we'll detail some of the sites we have found are great for small-time traders who want cheap and want results. Later, and happy trading! Continued here.