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Laxputs

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It seems many (most? all?) stocks that are not listed on N.A. markets, have a listing on the OTC.  Is it safe, reliable, and equivalent to just purchase from OTC if one doesn't have an international brokerage? What are the downsides? Is liquidity a lot less?

 

Thanks for the help.

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That hasn't been my experience at all.  I went to OTCMarkets and put in about 10 of my foreign holdings and none of them appeared on there.  If you're looking for mega-caps then there are usually ADR's for them. 

 

The issue I've seen is that the pinks are very illiquid compared to going straight to the exchange.  Often the price in the US won't reflect the exchange price to the point where the difference more than makes up for the additional commission cost.

 

With brokerages supporting online trading on exchanges around the world I don't know why you'd want a pink sheet version over the more liquid local shares.

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How does the capital structure of the company relate to the shares on OTCmarkets for grey or pink listed stocks? The ticker for the stock on the home market and the listing on OTC are different but they account for the same amount of shares. Is somebody buying the share on the home market and selling otc in hopes of a higher price and thus the low liquidity as this is not common? Os is there something else going on?  And is it OTCMarkets' job to insure the safe transaction and that the seller legally owns it?

 

TIA.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have had a GTC order for an illiquid foreign company. Since my GTC two orders from other investors have filled, not mine, and those orders were below my buy price. How is this possible? Order gets filled on highest bid, correct?

 

Nope, there are a number of reasons this could be true.  The orders could be through a market maker who's matching clients, or putting shares to an account holder.

 

What I've found is in the OTCMarkets world online orders are last in line.  If you want preferential treatment open an account at a brokerage that specializes in this stuff, you'll be moved to the front of the line.  You'll also discover a pool of liquidity that you didn't know existed.

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