OTC Bulletin Board - Definition and Overview

The OTC Bulletin Board is a stock market for companies to list shares which either do not meet the capitalization, ownership, or other requirements of major stock exchanges, or for companies who do not choose to have their shares listed on such exchanges.

The letters "OTC" were inetially an abbreviation for "over-the-counter" and described the way in which such shares were originally traded – rather than being bought and sold at exchanges by market specialists through stock brokers, physical stock certificates were literally dealt out over a counter. This method is now primarily of historical significance; relatively few shares actually changes hands in this manner currently.

OTC markets are avoided by many investors due to a fear, sometimes well-founded, that shares traded on them can have prices which are easily manipulated. At times it is difficult to differentiate between OTC shares and penny stocks sold as part of what is essentially a confidence game. The OTC Bulletin Board is an attempt to differentiate the legitimate OTC market from such schemes and as such has its own capitalization requirements, which are nonetheless far less restrictive than those imposed by major exchanges. Many shares which have been "de-listed" from major exchanges for falling below minimum capitalization or other requiremenets nonetheless end up being traded on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Ironically, one of the companies with shares traded on the OTC Bulletin Board is NASDAQ, a major electronic stock market.