What should investors verify before following a trading recommendation?

You verify the source’s SEBI registration first, directly through SEBI’s official database, since this is the single most important check and takes only a couple of minutes. You look at whether the recommendation comes with a clear rationale, actual reasoning based on company fundamentals, technical analysis, or a stated methodology, rather than just a stock name and a target price with no explanation, since a genuine analysis is at least somewhat verifiable and a bare tip is not. You check whether the recommendation involves a stock with reasonable trading volume and liquidity, since low-liquidity, low-volume stocks are far more susceptible to pump-and-dump manipulation than well-traded, established names. You’re also specifically wary of any recommendation paired with urgency (‘buy now before it moves’) or a guarantee of returns, since both are classic pressure tactics used in fraudulent tip schemes rather than something a legitimate, patient investment thesis would typically include. Ultimately, you treat any external recommendation, even from a verified source, as an input to your own research rather than a directive to act on without understanding why.