Stocks under $2 today have seen some decent action today. Some are penny stocks which are notorious for pump and dumps, while others are real, operating companies.

iPass Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAS) is up $0.22 at $1.52 in afternoon trading, a gain of 16.92%. The company announced Q3 results yesterday after market close. iPass reported revenue of $34.4 million. Net loss was reported at $0.8 million in Q3 compared to $1.1 million the prior quarter, and $1.9 million in Q3 last year. IPAS is up on above average volume with 384 thousand shares traded, twice its usual volume. IPAS has a market cap of 86.38 million.

Raystream Inc. (OTC:RAYS) is up $0.09 at $1.33 today, a gain of 7.26%. RAYS has been one of the most traded ‘penny stocks’ recently as it has had a huge promotion campaign behind it. These promotional campaigns are more commonly called ‘pump and dumps’. RAYS moved from $1 to around $2.50, before the ‘dump’ started. Yesterday, RAYS fell from $2.50 to $1.24 in a matter of a few hours.

Lithium Exploration Group Inc. (OTC:LEXG) is back at again today, moving up 32% to $1.65. LEXG was the infamous stock that ran from $1 to $10 and back to $1 again in a few short months earlier this year. This major run up was caused by a huge promotional campaign that got it started and then big investors coming in to trade it as well. No news on LEXG, could be some forum rumors going around on it.

Mistral Ventures Inc. (PINK:MILV) is another penny stock that is being pumped. MILV is up 42% today at $0.1340. Over 42 million shares have been traded so far today.

While some cheap stocks are real, operating companies – a lot of them are shell companies that get promoted. While trading stocks is risky, penny stocks are even more risky. If you’re interested in learning more about the penny stock market, head on over to our partner site at www.pennystockstrategy.com