Penny stock spam

I would start this post with something like I'm not sure if you get those spam emails about penny stocks, but I know you do, so moving on. According to a Spectrum article, the emails actually work. The spammer buys the stock, sends out the emails, stock momentarily spikes, spammer sells. Assuming the spammer does it right she/he can make a decent return.

Now if you are not the spammer, by the time you get the spam it would be hard to buy in time to ride up the spike. However, I imagine you would have time to prepare for the top of the spike. Well, what good does the spike do you? Sell it short. If as soon as you got the email you started looking for the increase in price you could sell the stock short and in a few days when it comes back down from the spike you've probably done about as well as the spammer. Having never sold something short I have no concept of if you could actually find a buyer in time or if people who trade in derivative are too smart for that. And I in no way actually recommend this (if I did I would be doing it, rather than writing about it here), but just thought it was an interesting idea.

Something I do recommend: if you are ever in a situation where you do not have aftershave (such as you avoided bringing liquids on the plane and the hotel brings you a bunch of stuff, but not aftershave), try using mouth wash (which hotels do seem to have). It actually works really well, and assuming you did not cut yourself it is not painful.