1. Determine and set your investment goals: Are you a short, medium, or long term investor?

2. Determine how much money you are willing to lose: This may sound backwards because you are investing to make money not to lose money, but it is important to allocate your capital into controlled risk segments (High, Medium, Low). Depending on your investment goals, it is important that you predetermine how much capital you plan on using to invest in risky investments. In other words, don't invest your food money. Be smart and invest according to your means not your dreams.

3. Research which online brokerage you want to use and open an account: Look at what each online brokerage has to offer. All are unique and each offers something different. And remember, sometimes costs of trading are not the only factor. Look at the quality of customer service as the key factor as well as the speed of transactions.

4. Do your 'due diligence': Talk to Analysts, Management, and other investors. Read the company's quarterly and annual reports. Check the public fillings. Know what you are investing in. This is what separates an investor from a daytrader.

5. Ignore external noises such as bashers, hypsters, and sometimes the media: If you have done your 'due diligence' and you know what you are investing in, you will find that others may not agree with you or may agree with you all to well. Never invest with your emotions. Invest with facts.

6. Make your trade: Congratulations you are now an investor.

7. Set target sell and/or average down prices: It's important to set goals for your investments so you don't get emotional when your investment rockets up or drops down in value.

8. Keep to your targets: Never look back. If you sell and the investment goes up, don't punish yourself. If you buy and the investment goes down, don't punish yourself. If you did your due diligence and you made some money or will make some money in the near future, why worry? Only adjust your targets if new positive or negative circumstances arise which will obvious change the value of your investments.

9. Remember, fear and greed rule the market: Yes facts and figures are important, but emotions rule the investors mindset. The question is, will you let it rule your mindset?

10. Take the weekends off: Don't look at your portfolio or the markets on the weekends, it'll drive you crazy. You can't buy or sell on the weekends, so worrying about your portfolio when you should be relaxing will only make you nervous about your investments. Kick back and relax on the weekends!

1. Scammers are usually new to the chat board. They usually sign up specifically to bash or hype that investment. Sometimes there will be a long time basher or hypster, but this is rare.
2. Scammers usually cross promote other investments. Bashers usually attack one investment and promote another one as being better or the real thing. Hypsters usually hype one investment and hype several others along with it to the board they are hyping on.
3. Scammers usually pretend to be someone or something they are not. They usually claim to be in the investment industry, a friend of someone in the company, or sometimes they gender switch.
4. Scammers appear to be strong. People listen to strong minded people and people who appear to be intelligent. Scammers try to portray themselves are strong people who are in the know.
5. Scammers usually encourage investors to call the company. After making bold statements, scammers will tell the investors on the chat board to call the company because investors will rarely call the company. Since no one actually verifies the statement made by the basher or hypster the statement is taken as the truth. And even if the statement is verified or disapproved by another poster, the board is still left confused because they cannot verify that that someone actually called. It becomes an endless circle of confusion.
6. Scammers rarely hype or bash a good stock. Solid blue chip stocks usually have few chat board posts. Scammers only go after stocks that are stagnant or moving relatively with stocks with true potential. Penny stocks (stocks less than $1) attract scammers.
7. Scammers usually use humour to get their points across. They usually post silly jokes about the company or post pictures which make fun of the company.
8. Scammers usually use events to bash or hype. They wait for something to happen within the company and twist the event to fit their bash or hype.
9. Scammers always bring up the same positive or negative news over and over again, even months after the initial news release.
10. Scammers post multiple times during the day. They comment on every post and answer every question. They try to control the board. Real investors are usually at busy with work, friends, or family, not posting on a chat board from dusk to dawn, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
11. Scammers will outright lie. Most companies aren't perfect, but bashers will take a company's mistake and exaggerate it's cause and effect on the operations of the company. Hypsters will take a company's partnership or deals and make over aggressive predictions for the potential revenue for the company.
12. Scammers usually make statements which cannot be verified. Bashers usually claim to know "something" about the company or management. Hypsters usually make claims of a "big deal" coming soon.
13. Scammers usually play on investors lack of knowledge and laziness. People who read chat boards for information usually do so to pick up quick and easy due diligence research. Unfortunately, some investors begin to rely too much on the chat board's validity and stop doing their own research.
14. Scammers use emotions to their advantage. Fear and greed are the tools of a hypster and basher. Hypsters want you to buy so "you don't miss out on the big returns". Bashers want you to sell so "you don't loss all your money". Hypsters and bashers try to break down your pre-set investment objectives and goals by attacking your fear and greed elements.
15. Scammers work in groups. Bashers and hypsters usually have multiple aliases or associates who work towards a single objective. Sometimes they all follow the same line of thought. Sometimes they play "good cop, bad cop" and attack each other points in order to finally "prove" that one of the views are right.
16. Some scammers are actually paid to bash or hype. Investing is a serious business where returns can balloon with the right whisper. In some cases, bashers and hypsters are paid by those interested in the investment to further their goals. Beware of posters who seems to have nothing else to do but to post all day on a stock chat board.
17. When all else fails, a scammer will usually resort to personal attacks against the other posters. Personal attacks usually make the chat board messy and unappealing. For bashers, it usually drives away investors and gives them a bad impression of the company. For hypsters, it may drive away the real investor who likes to post both sides of the story (not bashing or hyping) in order to discuss the pros and cons of the investment. It may also turn intelligent investors into personal attackers themselves, making them look bad as well.