The over-the-counter portion of the stock market that provides a trading platform for companies that are not large enough or financially sound enough to qualify for listing on the major stock exchanges (such as NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, etc). Bulletin board includes, as well, some foreign issuers that have not been granted listing in a particular market.

Bulletin board companies are usually not subject to the same reporting requirements as companies that trade on the major organized or over-the-counter exchanges. American bulletin board companies are assigned four-letter ticker symbols followed an “.OB” suffix. For example, Camelot Entertainment Group is identified by CMGR.OB ticker symbol. Foreign companies trade with five-letter symbols- the usual four letters followed by an F for foreign. For example, Overseas Technologies Company (a hypothetical name), which could be based in Europe, may trade as OVTCF.