A minor beef I've had with this board is it makes scam avoidance seem difficult when it's actually about the simplest aspect of investing. The advice I've given new investors is to stick with NYSE large caps audited by Big 4 accounting firms. Doing that provides a universe of 1,000+ stocks to select from. You MIGHT get an Enron - or die from a meteorite. But odds are overwhelming that you'll never suffer a significant fraud problem.
On frequent trading, there are two compelling studies suggesting that stocks investors buy tend to UNDERPERFORM the market, while those they sell tend to OUTPERFORM it. For example, from Berkeley's business school:
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
