OTC Bulletin Board

The OTC Bulletin Board or OTCBB is an interdealer electronic quotation system in the United States that displays real-time quotes, last-sale prices, and volume information for many over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities that are not listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange or a national securities exchange. Broker-dealers who subscribe to the system can use the OTCBB to look up prices or enter quotes for OTC securities. According to the 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 runs and provides regulatory services to the OTCBB. The OTCBB formerly collected 100% of quotes, but that number has declined with the rise of its competitor Pink OTC Markets. In September 2009, FINRA announced that it would be selling the OTCBB.. Traders Magazine. In September 2010, FINRA announced that it had reached terms for the sale of the OTCBB with well known investment bank Rodman & Renshaw. 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,...
Read More