NEW YORK, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pink OTC Markets Inc.
(Pink Sheets: PINK), which operates the leading inter-dealer
quotation system in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market, today
announced 2009 trading results and marketplace trends. Pink OTC
Markets upgraded its trading and quotation systems in 2009 to
accommodate the growth in OTC trading activity and to continue to
provide its broker-dealer customers the best platform for trading
OTC stocks. Quotations on Pink OTC Markets' system grew by 15% in
2009, attributable to both an overall increase in foreign stocks
traded in the U.S. and to broker-dealers choosing to publish more
priced quotations in Pink Quote(TM) to take advantage of the only
market-wide quotation and trading platform for OTC securities.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090623/NY36558LOGO )
Pink OTC Markets continues to see strong growth in its OTCQX®
Marketplace and industry adoption of the Pink Sheets® disclosure
tiers. The OTCQX tier reached $550 billion in market capitalization
in 2009. It grew by 63% as 30 new companies, including global
leaders such as Allianz SE, Gazprom Neft, JBS S.A., Craftmade
International Inc., Sangold Corp, and Peugeot S.A., began trading
on this premier tier of the U.S. OTC marketplace. The global growth
and trading performance of the OTCQX tier, the industry acceptance
of Pink Sheets' disclosure categories, and the increasing number of
broker-dealers choosing the Pink Quote platform as their
inter-dealer quotation system of choice for all their OTC quotation
activity, are the result of Pink OTC Markets' continued investment
in its technology platform and leadership as the financial
information provider for the OTC market. Liquidity follows
transparency. Over 92% of all dollar volume traded in OTCQX, OTCBB,
and Pink Sheets securities in 2009 was in companies that provided
current disclosure to the public markets, either through a
regulator or directly to Pink OTC Markets. OTC # of Securities %
Total 2009 Avg. 2009 $ Volume Market Tier at Dec. 31, 2009 Dollar
Volume Per Security ----------- ---------------- -------------
------------ OTCQX 78 9.5% $131,448,901 OTCBB on Pink Quote 3,321
15.1% $4,935,986 OTCBB Only 69 0.2% $2,883,275 Pink Sheets Current
Information 1,695 67.6% $43,282,661 Pink Sheets Limited Information
739 5.6% $8,198,443 Pink Sheets No Information 3,445 2.4% $743,063
In 2009, OTCQX was the leader by average dollar volume per security
among alternative or entry level markets, demonstrating strong
demand for trusted companies among U.S. investors: # of Securities
2009 Avg. $ Volume Market Tier at Dec. 31, 2009 Dollar Volume Per
Security ----------- ---------------- ------------- ------------
OTCQX 78 $10,253,014,306 $131,448,901 LSE AIM 1,293 $53,623,863,165
$41,472,439 Pink Sheets 5,879 $81,982,612,533 $13,944,993 TSX
Venture 2,375 $15,334,615,907 $6,456,680 OTCBB 3,390
$16,591,354,365 $4,894,205 Over 160 broker-dealers access Pink
Link®, Pink OTC Markets' electronic messaging system, to send,
execute, negotiate, or decline orders in OTCQX, Pink Sheets, and
OTCBB securities. In 2009, broker-dealers communicated 35% of all
OTCBB trades via Pink Link. Top 25 broker-dealers in 2009 by Pink
Link volumes: Firm Name Share Volume Dollar Volume ---------
------------ ------------- Knight Equity Markets, LP
342,569,949,272 $8,991,471,641 Archipelago Trading Services Inc.
10,864,101,143 $8,983,755,511 Jane Street Markets, LLC 366,810,773
$6,282,823,082 Automated Trading Desk Fincl Svcs 84,233,698,610
$4,750,325,885 UBS Securities, LLC 84,659,502,599 $4,444,186,052
E*Trade Capital Markets, LLC IMM 162,616,565,628 $3,761,520,503
Intl Trading, Inc. 282,504,907 $3,416,284,350 Domestic Securities,
Inc. 85,629,635,404 $2,729,396,768 Natixis Bleichroeder, Inc
21,909,430,577 $2,425,732,347 Merrill Lynch, Pierce, FS 203,842,125
$2,243,656,317 Hudson Securities, Inc 58,750,052,549 $2,221,175,375
Pershing Trading Company 17,945,525,490 $1,681,411,584 StockCross
Financial Services 2,261,670,038 $971,090,679 Citigroup Global
Markets Inc. 816,797,163 $823,347,508 BTIG LLC 1,105,190,863
$770,304,279 GFI Securities LLC 41,752,553 $708,213,100 Vandham
Securities Corp. 10,651,951,956 $634,771,377 Collins Stewart Inc.
690,196,294 $632,181,618 Maxim Group LLC 7,513,892,563 $613,518,320
The Vertical Group Inc. 66,109,124,586 $593,615,153 Lighthouse
Financial Group LLC 11,132,919,353 $487,900,675 LaBranche Financial
Services, Inc. 2,655,037,122 $442,082,874 Ticonderoga Securities
LLC 400,623,736 $427,043,631 Pali Capital Inc 1,943,165,815
$384,098,234 Noble International Inc. 7,379,916,305 $370,847,131
All broker-dealers using Pink OTC Markets' quotation and trading
services are regulated by FINRA for their quotations, trade
reporting, and best execution of customer orders. E*Trade,
Fidelity, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, and other online broker-dealers
provide real-time Pink OTC Markets' quotation information to their
customers for point and click trading. Real-time market data for
professional traders is available from Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters
and other leading market data providers. More broker-dealers are
choosing the superior performance and functionality of the Pink
Quote inter-dealer quotation system over FINRA's OTCBB(TM) for
publishing priced quotes in OTC securities: Year Ended Pink Quote
OTCBB December 31 Quotations Quotations ----------- ----------
---------- 2009 47,004 16,002 2008 41,289 26,670 2007 34,171 37,171
*There were a total of 81,786 priced and un-priced quotations on
Pink Quote and 23,129 on the FINRA OTCBB in December 2009. About
Pink OTC Markets Inc. Pink OTC Markets Inc. (Pink Sheets: PINK) is
a financial information and technology services company that
operates the leading electronic quotation and trading system in the
Over-the-Counter, or OTC, securities market. The OTCQX and Pink
Sheets marketplaces that we operate constitute, by dollar volume,
the third largest U.S. liquidity pool for trading public company
shares, after The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. and The New York Stock
Exchange. Our technology platform provides a comprehensive suite of
information products and trading services for OTC market
participants. Our products and services promote market
transparency, improve price discovery, facilitate regulatory
compliance, and increase the quality of issuer disclosure, to the
benefit of all OTC market participants. To learn more about how
Pink OTC Markets' products and services make OTC markets more
transparent, informed, and efficient, please visit our websites at
http://www.pinkotc.com/, http://www.pinksheets.com/ and
http://www.otcqx.com/ or contact us at . About OTCQX The OTCQX
Marketplace is the premier tier of the U.S. Over-the-Counter
Market. Investor-focused companies use the quality controlled OTCQX
listing platform to offer investors transparent trading, superior
information, and easy access through their regulated U.S.
broker-dealers. The innovative OTCQX platform offers companies and
their shareholders a level of marketplace services formerly
available only on a U.S. exchange. For more information and to see
a full list of OTCQX listed companies, visit http://www.otcqx.com/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090623/NY36558LOGODATASOURCE:
Pink OTC Markets Inc. CONTACT: Matthew Sheldon, CCG Investor
Relations, +1-310-954-1346, , http://www.ccgir.com/ Web Site:
http://www.pinkotc.com/
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