Eco-Trade Corp. (OTC:BOPT) Rides the Energy Trend
If cars ran on promises instead of petrol products, penny stock companies would be supplying the whole world. Yet another potential oil producer surfaced yesterday, Eco-Trade Corp. (OTC:BOPT), which currently trades at 39 cents after a slide of 12%. We have not intercepted a promotion for this ticker, yet BOPT is actively releasing forward statements for its oil production, and this attracts attention. 
In the past two days, BOPT saw both record selling and buying, of around 2 million shares, a volume several times the usual one. The company is capped at a stunning $80 million with around 200 million shares outstanding. But despite the claims of great oil production, BOPT is somehow shaky in the financial department: 
- Zero cash
- $483,222 convertible debt, $1.38 million total liabilities
- Zero revenues
- $8,905 operating loss, $74,531 net loss after interest payments and preferred stock dividends
It seems the company has no cash reserves, but does not miss to pay the holders of preferred stocks a compensation. The company estimates its real wealth is lying in the ground- some 80 to 120 million barrels, if it could only muster enough resources to start drilling and pumping the Bakken formation. The amount is not insignificant, equivalent to what Saudi Arabia would pump in one day.
BOPT also makes the typical promise of a potential oil seeker, pointing out the lucrative plots surrounding its own energy claim in the Bakken formation. But still, this won’t guarantee marketable results any time soon. On the good side, BOPT holds relatively little debt, while prospectors sometimes allow to be buried in millions of liabilities.
But all of this is insignificant, given that the BOPT ticker is mostly fueled by hype and expectations. And it does not stand alone- in the past days, other energy tickers rose out of obscurity and inactivity, Norstra Energy, Corp. (OTC:NORX). The ticker doubled in price on its own merit, and when it was taken by paid promoters, the graph switched directions and profit-taking dragged the stock down.
While it is still early to say whether BOPT will be a new selection, we will follow it in the next days and weeks to see if there is danger lurking in what looks like a lucrative opportunity. So far, BOPT does not show anything different from the regular development-stage penny stock, with high hopes and shallow reserves.
