Pink Sheets

In the early 1900’s, new and outstanding stocks were advertised in financial newspapers or in the financial sections of large newspapers by investors, dealers, and brokers. The National Quotation Bureau started, in 1904, to consolidate and print this information for dealers and brokers. Through various incarnations, this has become the pink sheets of today, when, despite the name, most of the information is distributed electronically at the Pink Sheets website.

Pink sheets lists mostly stocks that do not qualify for a listing on an exchange. These thinly traded stocks, often called penny stocks, are issues from small companies. The name is based on the color of the paper of the traditional sheets that were printed daily by Pink Sheets, LLC. Nowadays, listings are updated by fax or email, and real-time quotes are displayed on the Electronics Quotation System. The listings include the stock, the market makers dealing in the stock, their phone numbers, and may include a quote for the stock. However, these quotes are static quotes that the market maker is not obliged to uphold because they are only updated once per day. To buy a stock listed in the pink sheets, the customer’s broker would call 1 or more of the market makers listed for that security, and ask for a firm quote.

Some OTC stocks are listed only on Pink Sheets, some only in the OTCBB, and some are listed on both services.