OTC Trade
Over the counter – direct trade – off-market trade
OTC trading refers to financial transactions between market participants that are not traded via the stock exchange. In German, OTC trading is called telephone trading, which today is predominantly processed electronically.
The Over the Counter market includes the off-market trading of:
- Market-listed securities. The reason for this may be that involved partners do not want to make the business public,
- Financial derivatives without standard specifications (Over the counter derivatives),
- Securities not permitted for exchange trading.
For Over-the-counter derivatives (‘OTC derivative contracts’) the European Parliament passed the Regulation (EU) Nr. 648/2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repository (EMIR) in 2012.