The secondary market, also called the aftermarket and follow on public offering, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the security by the issuer to a purchaser, who pays proceeds to the issuer, is the primary market. All sales after the initial sale of the security are sales in the secondary market. Whereas the term primary market refers to the market for new issues of securities, and " market is primary if the proceeds of sales go to the issuer of the securities sold," the secondary market in contrast is the market created by the later trading of such securities. With primary issuances of securities or

financial instrument Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership, interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form ...

s (the primary market), often an underwriter purchases these securities directly from issuers, such as

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

s issuing shares in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) or private placement. Then the underwriter re-sells the securities to other buyers, in what is referred to as a secondary market or aftermarket (or a buyer in contrast may buy directly from the federal government, in the case of a government issuing treasuries).

Forms of secondary market

The secondary market can be for a variety of assets, that can vary from stocks to loans, from fragmented to centralized, and from illiquid to very liquid. The major

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 ...

s are the most visible example of liquid secondary markets—in this case, for stocks of publicly traded companies. Exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq Stock Market provide centralized, liquid secondary markets for investors who wish to buy or sell stocks that trade on those exchanges. Most bonds and structured products trade " over the counter", or by phoning the bond desk of one's broker-dealer. Loans sometimes trade online, using a loan exchange. Another usage of "secondary market" is to refer to loans which are sold by a mortgage bank to investors such as

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the New ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an American publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons, Virginia.used goods or assets, or an alternative use for an existing product or asset where the customer base is the second market (for example, corn has been traditionally used primarily for food production and feedstock, but a "second" or "third" market has developed for use in ethanol production).

Function

Emanuel de Witte - De binnenplaats van de beurs te Amsterdam

In the secondary market, securities are sold by and transferred from one buyer to another. It is therefore important that the secondary market be highly liquid. Originally, the only way to create this liquidity was for investors and speculators to meet at a fixed place regularly; this is how stock exchanges originated (see History of the Stock Exchange). As a general rule, the greater the number of investors that participate in a given marketplace, and the greater the centralization of that marketplace, the more liquid the market. Accurate share price allocates scarce capital more efficiently when new projects are financed through a new primary market offering, but accuracy may also matter in the secondary market because: 1) price accuracy can reduce the agency costs of management, and make

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...

a less risky proposition and thus move capital into the hands of better managers; and 2) accurate share price aids the efficient allocation of debt finance whether debt offerings or institutional borrowing.

Related usage

The term may refer to markets in things of value other than securities. For example, the ability to buy and sell

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

such as patents, or rights to musical compositions, is considered a secondary market because it allows the owner to freely resell property entitlements issued by the government. Similarly, secondary markets can be said to exist in some real estate contexts as well (''e.g.'', ownership shares of time-share vacation homes are bought and sold outside of the official exchange set up by the timeshare issuers). These have very similar functions as secondary stock and bond markets in allowing for speculation, providing liquidity, and financing through securitization. This facilitates liquidity and marketability of the long-term instrument. It also provides instant valuation of securities caused by changes in the environment.

Private secondary markets

Private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity funds. Sellers of private-equity investments sell not only the investments in the fund, but also their remaining unfunded commitments to the funds.Ryan Cotton (2012)

"The Benefits of Secondary Funds in a Private Equity Portfolio." Due to the increased compliance and reporting obligations on U.S. public company boards of directors and management and public accounting firms enacted in the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, private secondary markets began to emerge, such as SecondMarket and SecondaryLink. These markets are generally only available to institutional or accredited investors, and allow trading of unregistered and private company securities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secondary Market Financial markets

Forms of secondary market

Function

Related usage

Private secondary markets

See also

References