History
The company was first established in 1913 as The National Quotation Bureau (NQB). For decades, the NQB reported quotations for both stocks and bonds, publishing the quotations in the paper-based Pink Sheets and Yellow Sheets respectively. The publications got their names from the color of paper they were printed on. In September 1999, the National Quotation Bureau introduced the a real-time Electronic Quotation Service. The National Quotation Bureau changed its name to Pink Sheets LLC in 2000 and subsequently to Pink OTC Markets in 2008. The company eventually changed to its current name, OTC Markets Group, in 2010. Today, a network of over 160 broker-dealers price and trade a wide spectrum of securities on the OTC Markets platform.
To be quoted on the platform, companies are not required to file with the SEC, although many choose to do so. A wide range of companies are quoted on OTC Markets, including firmly established foreign firms, mostly through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). In addition, many closely held, extremely small and thinly traded US companies have their primary trading on the OTC Markets platform.
Many foreign issuers adhere to the listing requirements of qualified Non-US Stock Exchanges and make their home country disclosure available in English. There are also a significant number of US issuers who are current in their reporting to regulators such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or make available ongoing quarterly and audited annual financial reports through OTC Markets Group. Many companies in the lower market tiers of the OTC categorization system do not meet the U.S. listing requirements for trading on a stock exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. Many of these issuers do not file periodic reports or make available audited financial statements, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies. For these reasons the SEC views many of the lower tier companies traded on OTC Markets as "among the most risky investments" and advises potential investors to heavily research the companies in which they plan to invest.
Read more about this topic: OTC Markets Group
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