Over-the-counter financial transactions represent all the financial activities that don't take place on an organized market. OTC transactions implies a transaction between financial actors that agree privately on volume and price. No public report is usually made on those transactions. They mostly involve large financial institutions such as investment banks, hedge funds, or blue chip companies.
OTC transactions are very frequent on derivative instrument like forward rate agreements or swaps. OTC contracts have been highly criticized since they implied very few transparency.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulates brokerdealers that operate in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. On the OTC market you can trade equity securities, corporate bonds, government securities and derivative products. The OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) and the Pink Sheets, for example, operate within the OTC market. The Pink Sheets and the OTCBB are quotation services for OTC securities. The Pink Sheets is a privately owned company. Unlike the OTCBB, issuers do not have to file financial reports to the SEC to be quoted.
OTC Stocks
