International Stem Cell Corp. (OTCMKTS:ISCO) Closes Gap with JetLife Promotional Boost

International Stem Cell Corp. (OTCMKTS:ISCO) is well on the path to bridging its gap, gaining to 21 cents on dollar volumes above $590,000. ISCO has been growing sharply in the past few days, as it presented its potential at the 2013 San Francisco investors’ conference for the biotech sector. Now, the question remains whether ISCO can survive and revisit its higher positions.

The company, however, has an extra boost: a paid promotion, with emails running thrice already, and its latest press release is already a couple of days old. The ticker shows good momentum so far, although the volumes are subdued. Now, investors’ forums await further PR from the company on its potential for using stem cell technologies. Some of the opinions show a certain fatigue with the climb, possibly pointing to a correction at the end of the trading week.

The last email landed on October 10th, coming in from WallStreet Surfers, for an unknown compensation, probably free. Several other minor pumpers- Jet Life and StockRunway.com, received small compensations for the mentions, also on Thursday and Wednesday.

While ISCO may have genuine potential in the stem cell field, its achievements are still in rodent models, and may take much longer than it takes for a promotion to lift the stock, and crash it a while later. The more rapid and active the promotion, the bigger the potential for a drop afterwards.

Since ISCO became active so suddenly, here is an example of what JetLife has done to stocks. A pick from the beginning of October, Bullfrog Gold Corp. (OTCMKTS:BFGC) started off well, moving from 26 to a peak at 34 cents, only to crash on a few days of extremely active selling. Before the pumpers took it up, BFGC was a low-volume position, with big daily swings.

WallStreet Surfers also has a past record of inflating tickers to disproportion, leaving them to crash later. Exites Holdings International, Inc. (OTCMKTS:EXHI) moved suddenly in August, only to lose more than 95% of its value, though it was bought actively and stood at 10 cents at the beginning of the promotion.

With those two examples, ISCO is becoming more worrying. While the company is moving up on a general trend in the biotech sector, each OTC business has its own specifics and differences in quality. In the case of ISCO, the success is still too hypothetical, and the main forces behind the gain are hype and emails. If you still believe ISCO could revisit higher positions, it is best to research your own preferred time frame, and avoid investing unless you can afford the fate of BFGC or EXHI.