The short explanation of the tier that traps retail shareholders, and what it means for your position.
If a broker tells you a stock is on the Expert Market, or you see it marked unpriced or not available to trade, this is usually why.
The Expert Market is a restricted tier of the over-the-counter market where broker-dealers cannot publish public quotes, because the company is not making current information available. Trading there is limited to certain professionals, so most individual investors can neither buy nor sell.
In September 2021 the SEC's amended Rule 15c2-11 took effect. The rule says a broker-dealer may only publish a quote for a security if current information about the company is available to the public. When a company stops filing, brokers must stop quoting it, and the security moves to this restricted tier. More than two thousand companies moved on the day the rule took effect, and others have followed as they fell behind on filings.
Your shares still exist and you still own them. What you have lost is a public market to sell them in. Whether that is temporary or permanent depends almost entirely on whether the company starts filing current information again. For a company that is simply behind, there is a path back. For one that is insolvent or has gone dark for good, there usually is not.
The fastest way to know which situation you are in is to look at whether the company is still filing with the SEC. The free checker on this site reads EDGAR and gives you a plain-language read on the ticker's status, at no cost.
Start here, free. Check whether a ticker is still filing with the SEC and see why it may have lost its quote. No signup, no card.
If the position looks stuck, the Trapped Shareholder Toolkit ($29.99) gives you the document templates and step by step guidance to document a worthless-securities tax loss, request your records from the transfer agent, and search state unclaimed property. Information and templates only, not legal, tax, or investment advice.
This guide is general information and document education only. It is not legal, tax, or investment advice, and nothing here is a promise that any security can be sold or recovered. Talk to a qualified professional about your own situation.
Each week: the micro and small-caps now showing dilution or paid-promotion signals, with the SEC filing behind every flag. No recommendations, no price targets.