Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board - OTCBB

Categories: Trading

See: Over-The-Counter - OTC.

Rocky. Rudy. Dodgeball. Who doesn’t love a good underdog story?

The Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB), that’s who.

Underdog stories are only underdog stories if the underdog wins at the end. The OTCBB was one of those underdog stories gone wrong, where the underdog loses. Awkward, which is why we don’t hear about it.

In its heyday, the OTCBB was a humble place one could go to get quotes on over-the-counter (OTC) trades. There’s a lot of OTC trading that happens off of exchanges (like stock exchanges). Not everyone has what it takes to make it to the official exchanges, but they can still play ball in OTC markets.

OTCBB isn’t an exchange, since the actual OTC transactions happen between individuals, but it did function as a bulletin board of OTC prices.

Most OTC trading now happens via OTC Market Group’s online platforms. The OTC Market Group is the biggest OTC watercooler out there these days, making OTCBB pretty obsolete. But it’s still out there, the OTCBB. If you really love a good underdog story, you’ll go to the OTCBB before the OTCQX, OTCQT, or OTC Pink marketplaces.

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Finance: What is Over The Counter (OTC)?3 Views

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finance a la shmoop what is over the counter or OTC alright buy drugs LVM

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non-prescription kind yeah those nyquil tylenol preparation-h well then you buy [Doctor filling out prescription]

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them over-the-counter prescription drugs yeah those are different much more

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highly inspected regulated structured and stocks work the same way when you

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trade over-the-counter you're generally trading within a network of other

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dealers all trading stocks think of it like everyone on Facebook had a trading [Facebook posts appear]

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account nothing really is supervised door regulated or controlled it's just

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the transaction happening among two strangers passing in the night [People walking around with smartphones]

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exchanging glances get a fair deal on this trade well on the exchanges Amazon

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was offered for fifteen hundred two dollars a share but on the OTC deck

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network while it was offered at 1507 maybe you'll have overpaid five bucks a [Amazon share prices appear]

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share for Amazon if you buy it here rather than on NASDAQ which is a normal

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securities exchange well stocks bonds commodities derivatives they all trade

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OTC and also on exchanges so why are there both methods of trading in the

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first place well demand if everybody was happy with the trades they made from

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9:30 to four New York time well then there wouldn't be a whole lot of demand [Stocks transferring from wall street]

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for trading outside of those hours and in other places but there is so there is

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an OTC trading accommodates after-hours trading as well which can be a really

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big deal when a company announces earnings at 4:30 p.m. New York time and [Newspaper of record earnings for company appears]

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the street either loves or hates the numbers that the companies printed the

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stock can move a lot in a short period so a lot of investors are happy to be

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able to either dump or scarf up positions in whatever calm at 4:32 p.m.

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after the numbers have been published not wanting to wait the dozen in change [Clock rapidly ticks forward]

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hours until the market opens again in the morning the basic idea behind OTC

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trading is that the world of OTC is kind of the wild wild west of stock exchanges

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unlike trading on the NYSE where companies have to meet very high

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standards to be accepted for trading on the exchange qualify for OTC trading

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while companies basically just have to spell their name properly fill out a few [Person signing a document]

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forms and feel that belonging thing and even then

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well you know there's a lot of flexibility

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