Hi Coleman Land,
The penny stock world is extremely tough to navigate and predict. I don't claim to know the answer. Have pondered the question many times myself. All I can give for an answer is an opinion and sharing some experiences. Before we get too much further, if this is the world you want to exploit? It takes very thick skin and a great deal of patience.
The first thing to do is identify the pumpers. Keep in mind, pumping and dumping isn't exactly legal. If it's too obvious? They'll get busted. That's where the extreme patience comes in. They frontload and accumulate in silence. (Hence the term "buy the silence, sell the noise.") By the time they are ready to pump it, they will have a large enough position to be able to control the trading as they see fit. They aren't in the game to make you money. Most pumps I've experienced will start with large volume on the rise. Then it turns into selling. Watch it enough, and you'll recognize the light volume trades on the ask, and the heavier trades on the bid.
I have known many sharp traders throughout the years. They thought since they didn't have a large capital position? Their best chances were in the penny stock (OTC) market. It can be done, I won't say that it can't. Most who try, come up empty.
