What is the Pink Sheets?
The Pink Sheets is a centralized quotation service that collects and publishes market maker quotes for OTC securities in real-time. Pink Sheets is neither a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registered Stock Exchange nor a Broker-Dealer.

How do I get a quote for a Pink Sheets stock?
You can get a quote for any given security by entering a symbol in the input box on the left side bar located on every page of the pinksheets.com.

How often are quotes updated?
The quotes displayed on pinksheets.com are continuously updated from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and are delayed at least 15 minutes. Market makers are able to update their quotes at any time during market hours.

If I cannot find a company on your Quote page, where else do I look?
You should try using the Symbol Lookup feature, located under the symbol input box, to make certain you are using a valid symbol. If you are using the correct symbol, but still get no results, then the security is not quoted on the Pink Sheets. It is likely on the "grey market." Grey market securities, also called other-OTC, are only displayed on pinksheets.com if there has been a trade in the security in the previous six months.

Why is there no quote for some securities?
There are several possibilities:

1) The security is not quoted on Pink Sheets. You can verify this by checking the “Primary Venue” for the stock. It will be listed on the individual quote page for the security you are looking at. If it says “Other-OTC,” then no market maker is publishing a quote for this stock in the Pink Sheets; it is what is known as a gray market stock.

2) There is no inside market on Pink Sheets for the security. Pink Sheets website displays inside or best bid and ask information. The inside is a calculation of the best, or highest, of all the bids and asks published by individual market makers in Pink Sheets. In order to calculate an inside market, there must be at least 2 priced bids and/or 2 priced ask quotes. There is no requirement for a market maker to publish priced quotes in Pink Sheets; they can publish unpriced quotes. If we cannot calculate an inside bid or ask, then N/A will appear in the Best Bid and Best Ask fields on the quote page of pinksheets.com.

Where do I get real-time quotes for Pink Sheets stocks?
Real-time quotes are available through our OTCQuote.com website on a password-protected subscription basis. OTCQuote.com is indispensable if you are a broker/dealer or an issuer interested in viewing real-time market maker quotes. For more information on this product, visit our OTC Quote page.

Why can't I get price and volume for some stocks until the end of the day?
All trades in OTC securities are required to be reported to the NASD via the Nasdaq ACT System within 90 seconds of the transaction. However, Nasdaq only disseminates this information in real-time for domestic OTC equities and for ADR and foreign OTC equities that are quoted on the OTCBB. For ADR and Foreign equities that are quoted on the Pink Sheets or traded in the grey market, High, Low, Close and Volume are disseminated to the market place only after the close of the market for the day. Individual trades are never disseminated for these securities. There is no regulatory requirement to withhold this information from the market place; it is simply a practice of the NASD and The Nasdaq Stock Market. Pink Sheets disagrees with this practice and has requested that Nasdaq disseminate trade data for foreign equities in real time, which would allow investors the ability to better monitor the quality of their executions in these securities.

How do the Pink Sheets differ from the OTCBB?
The Pink Sheets and the OTCBB are competing quotation services for OTC securities. The Pink Sheets is a privately owned company, while NASDAQ operates the OTCBB. Unlike the OTCBB, issuers do not have to be fully reporting companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be quoted on the Pink Sheets. The Pink Sheets' OTC Dealer provides market makers with dynamic tickers and quote montages and an electronic trade negotiation system, while the OTCBB does not provide this functionality.

Who regulates the Pink Sheets?
Pink Sheets is neither a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registered Stock Exchange nor a NASD broker/dealer. Pink Sheets is considered a Non-exclusive Securities Information Processor and an Interdealer Quotation System, for which registration is not required under current securities laws. However, Pink Sheets quotation and trading system is only open to registered broker/dealers and those broker/dealers are subject to NASD Rules and regulations regarding their conduct and use of the Pink Sheets. Issuers are subject to Federal and State securities laws.

What are the Pink Sheets' trading hours?
The Pink Sheets follows regular market hours, from 9:30 AM until 4:00 PM ET. The Pink Sheets follows the market calendar of the Nasdaq Stock Market and is closed on the days that Nasdaq is closed. The Quotation system is available from 7 am to 5 pm every business day. However, individual traders at a market maker control when the trader's quotes are open and firm.

Where can I get historical information on Pink Sheet stocks immediately?
The Pink Sheets' Library Research Service offers a variety of standardized and customized research reports for the Pink Sheet securities. For more detailed information about this service click here.

How do I stop getting SPAM and unsolicited faxes?
Pink Sheets does not send, participate in the sending, nor authorize any unsolicited communications to the public, whether it's by e-mail, fax or Messenger pop-ups. However, these promotions cause damage to the Pink Sheets' reputation and we will work to track down the senders to get them, at a minimum, to include legitimate opt-out procedures on their communications. We would appreciate it if you would forward a copy of the message you received to info@pinksheets.com in order to help us in our efforts. If your complaint is regarding unsolicited faxes, please include the security being promoted, and any other pertinent details in your email.

Since the sender is not affiliated with us in any way, we are unable to remove you from this mailing or fax list. However, you can email any complaints you have of unsolicited communications and stock promotions to the Securities and Exchange Commission at enforcement@sec.gov.

The Federal Communications Commission also has an online complaint form specifically for unsolicited faxes on their website at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html.

The reference to the Pink Sheets or our website in the message you received does not mean it is being sent by, or at the direction of, the Pink Sheets. Pink Sheets LLC is a quotation service for OTC securities. Because www.pinksheets.com provides quotes and other information on OTC securities, illegal stock promoters mention our website in Spam similar to mentioning www.nasdaq.com for information on a company that is listed on NASDAQ. We do not gain anything from this Spam. We do not trade stocks and we do not promote stocks, whether they are quoted on the Pink Sheets or an Exchange such as NYSE, or on NASDAQ. Our client is not the general public, only professional traders and institutional investors.

What is the best browser to use to view pinksheets.com?
Internet Explorer and Netscape versions 7.0 and up.

Why don't I see my stock in the market statistics lists, i.e. the Most Active?
Martket Statistics lists include stocks quoted only on the Pink Sheets. If you stock is not a unique Pink Sheets stock then it won't be listed in the market statistics lists.

How can I advertise on pinksheets.com?
Please send an inquiry regarding advertising opportunities to info@pinksheets.com.