Q&A  |  DEC 2006

Q&A by Don Bright

Stocks & Commodities V. 24:12 (25): Q&A by Don Bright SINCE YOU ASKED Confused about some aspect of trading? Professional trader Don Bright of Bright Trading (www.stocktrading.com), an equity trading corporation, answers a few of your questions. To submit a question, post your question to our website at http:// Message-Boards.Traders.com. Answers will be posted there, and selected questions will appear in a future issue of S&C. AND NOW, SOME DEFINITIONS Q: What are flippers? What do they do? Are they legal? And why are there so many people complaining about them? Thanks. —Richard Wong A: First off, a definition: For our purposes, a “flipper” is a short-term investor or daytrader who buys pre–IPO (initial public offering) shares, swiftly spinning them out into public markets for a quick profit. According to an online reference guide, flippers may hold a stock for only 24 to 48 hours. The other “flipper” term you may run across applies to those who buy and fix up houses to “flip” at a profit. As far as people complaining about either kind of flipper is concerned, the other side of the equation is that these flippers provide much-needed liquidity in these new issues, and in the housing market as well.

by Don Bright