Looking for hot penny stocks to watch? Stop looking and start creating. Anytime you rely on someone else to provide that hot list of stocks, you're making a big mistake. These particular stock trading waters are shark-infested and frothing to the brim with fraud. There are three basic steps to creating your own list of penny stocks to watch.

Broker Your Way to Penny Stocks to Watch

First you need a full service broker. Some people may sigh when they read this step. Stop playing games here. This is real money with real risk. If you're serious about learning how to make money with stock trading, then the very first step you need to take on your way to creating your own list of stocks to watch is to find yourself an established and reputable full service broker. You can go with discount brokers like E*Trade later when you've learned the trade and you're ready to take care of business on your own.

Technical Analysis of Stock Picks

Next you need to learn the basics of technical analysis. In stock trading terms, technical analysis refers to viewing the chart data and identifying patterns known to be associated with specific future behavior of a stock. You'll find terms like "head and shoulders" and "double tap" used to refer to specific patterns.

Even if you're working with a broker who is helping you learn the ropes, you need to study these different patterns and learn to accurately identify and diagnose them with real stocks in the market. Quickly spotting common patterns and diagnosing them is vital in developing your own list of hot penny stocks to watch.

Develop Your Due Diligence

The last key to creating a successful list of hot stocks to watch is to understand and appreciate how to conduct your own due diligence with a stock company. This means you need to learn how to research the financial and legal background of obscure little companies. It isn't as hard as it sounds; but you need to take the time to learn where to go and what to do to obtain and verify a company's financial data. Because micro cap stocks often don't need to file with SEC, this is doubly important for micro cap stock transactions.

Unfortunately, a ton of information online about these kinds of stocks is falsified, so never trust information voluntarily provided to you. This is especially true of information provided to you by penny stock newsletters. Those "newsletters" are common vehicles for pump and dump fraud.