The OTC (Over-The-Counter) Bulletin Board or OTCBB was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

quotation A quotation is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by ...

medium operated by the

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...

(FINRA) for its subscribing members. FINRA closed the OTCBB on November 8, 2021. The board was used for many over-the-counter (OTC) equity

securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any fo ...

that were not listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

or a national

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

, it had shrunk significantly as stock have migrated to the trading facilities of the

OTC Markets Group OTC Markets Group (previously known as Pink Sheets) is an American financial market providing price and liquidity information for almost 10,000 over-the-counter (OTC) securities. The group has its headquarters in New York City. OTC-traded se ...

Broker-dealer In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...

s who subscribed to the system, which was not electronic, were able to use the OTCBB to enter orders for OTC securities that qualified to be quoted. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "fraudsters often claim or imply that an OTCBB company is a Nasdaq company to mislead investors into thinking that the company is bigger than it is". FINRA, an "independent,

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization authorized by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

", ran and provided regulatory services to the OTCBB by "writing and enforcing rules governing the activities of more than 4,100 securities firms with approximately 639,780 brokers". The OTCBB formerly collected 100% of quotes, but that number declined with the rise of its competitor

, which uses an electronic quotation system. In September 2009, FINRA announced that it would be selling the OTCBB. OTC Markets Group was the leading contender for purchasing the OTCBB, but terms could not be reached.FINRA Proposal Riles OTC Market
''Traders Magazine''. In September 2010, FINRA announced that it had reached terms for the sale of the OTCBB with Rodman & Renshaw, an investment bank. Along with the sale of the OTCBB and, in an effort to provide uniform regulation to all OTC issues and, subsequently, transparency to the OTC market, FINRA has proposed a "quotation consolidation system". Under the quotation consolidation system, FINRA would require dealers to report all of their quotes to the quotation consolidation system, regardless of the market upon which they were originally quoted. This would enable FINRA to have access to all quotes in OTC issues and regulate the OTC market in its entirety. Pink OTC argues this is anti-competitive and an abuse of FINRA's authority. Companies quoted on the OTCBB had to fully report (i.e., current with all required SEC filings) but there were no market capitalization, minimum share price,

corporate governance Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions ...

or other requirements to be quoted. Companies which had been "de-listed" from stock exchanges for falling below minimum capitalization, minimum share price or other requirements often ended up being quoted on the OTCBB. An E after the ticker symbol meant that the company was late in its SEC filings. Stock of non-reporting companies (those without current SEC filings) may be quoted on one of the markets operated by OTC Markets Group. When the OTCBB was operational, most OTCBB companies were dually quoted, meaning they were quoted on both the OTCBB and the one of the OTC Markets Group markets. Stocks traded on these markets are usually thinly traded

microcap In business and investing, term microcap stock (also micro-cap) refers to the stock of public companies in the United States which have a market capitalization of roughly $50 million to $300 million. The shares of companies with a market capital ...

penny stock Penny stocks are common shares of small public companies that trade for less than one dollar per share. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uses the term "Penny stock" to refer to a security, a financial instrument which represents ...

s. Both retail and institutional investors generally avoid them, because of fears that share prices are easily

manipulated Manipulation may refer to: * Manipulation (psychology) - the action of manipulating someone in a clever or unscrupulous way * Crowd manipulation - use of crowd psychology to direct the behavior of a crowd toward a specific action ::* Internet man ...

and the potential for

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. The SEC issues stern warnings to investors to be aware of common fraud and manipulation schemes. As such, most companies choose to list on more established exchanges such as the NYSE MKT,

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

, or

once eligible. For a time, FINRA believed that the proposed "quotation consolidation system" would enhance transparency, thereby decreasing the potential for price manipulation or fraud. The suffix ".OB" in a stock-ticker listing signifies "over-the-counter bulletin board" according to its Reuters Instrument Code.

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Otc Bulletin Board Electronic trading platforms

See also

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