Shell Stocks & Reverse Mergers

It should be noted firstly that playing shells is reserved for more sophisticated investors, some shells can sit for weeks to years before any activity ensues. If you are not experienced with shell trading it is a good idea to educate yourself as much as possible before attempting to do so. That said an educated shell “player” who thoroughly does his due diligence, can make a lot of money at times as the risk reward ratio can tip heavily in your favor if you play your shells correctly. We suggest you monitor those lists as a first means of staying up to date. Tips for the shell assessment process: Shell should be a clean, reporting company, with solid experienced management looking for a reverse merger, for clues, check the SEC filings, news releases, or talk to management. Clean means the shell has little to zero debt, nice if they have cash in the bank and no pending law suits, and little or no outstanding convertible securities (preferred stock or warrants). These can hinder a reverse merger. We like to get involved with shells having a low shareprice and tight or small share structures ie: AS/OS/FLOAT to keep the chances of a reverse split at a minimum and value during trading at a premium. Other things to look for: Shells listed on the larger exchanges tend to have a better chance of being picked up than ones on the pinksheets. If the shell has benefits such as tax losses it can defer to future years of profits, this can be advantageous. Certain market activity can be an indicator of a pending change to the shell or reverse merger, things to watch for include: Unusual activity, such as buying, rising shareprice, sudden volume, debts being paid, legal actions, reverse splits, catching up on filings, can all be indicating something is in the works, likely a reverse merger, or some kind of acquisition. Popular shell owners or otherwise known as facilitators, a facilitator is a person who either buys shells for future sale or merging activity, or assumes custodianship of dormant delinquent filing shells via the courts with an application for custodianship. Generally the custodian granted a shell will have demonstrated the ability to clean up any debts and bring any necessary filings up to date. Here are some of the prominent “facilitators: Mark Smith Michael Anthony & Brian Scher (associated) David B. Stocker Joseph Meuse Keating Investments "Tim, Kevin and Michael " Eugene Koppenhaver Brian Goldenberg "Clark & Rentschler "(associated) Howard B. Weintrich Jay A. Gottlieb Wesley F. Whiting Halter Investments Kip Eardley Joseph Arcaro David Clark Frank Pioppi Shell related websites and resources: http://www.shellstockwatch.com http://www.shellstockreview.com/ http://www.shellstocks.com/ http://reversemerger.dealflowmedia.com/wires/top_wires.cfm OTCBB Daily List for Symbol changes: http://www.otcbb.com/dailylist/index_2008.htm http://www.otcbb.com/AllDailyList/index_2008.htm Latest 15-12G SEC Filings http://www.1512g.com/ Explanation of filings: http://www.gsionline.com/support/formtypes.html EDGAR filings http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html SOS sites http://www.coordinatedlegal.com/SecretaryOfState.html Dominant SOS sites: Nevada https://esos.state.nv.us/SOSServices/AnonymousAccess/CorpSearch/CorpSearch.aspx Delaware https://sos-res.state.de.us/tin/GINameSearch.jsp Florida http://www.sunbiz.org/