OTC tiers in one paragraph
OTC Markets Group classifies every OTC-quoted security into tiers reflecting disclosure quality. OTCQX is the highest tier — audited financials, current disclosure, often large foreign issuers (Nestle, Roche, Tencent ADRs). OTCQB is the venture tier — current SEC or alternative reporting, $0.01 minimum bid. Pink Current means some disclosure; Pink Limited means stale or limited disclosure. Grey market is not actively quoted — trades only happen by direct broker negotiation.
Which brokers support which tiers
OTCQX and OTCQB are universal. Every mainstream broker — Fidelity, Schwab, Robinhood, E*TRADE, Webull, Moomoo, Public, SoFi, Interactive Brokers — accepts online orders on OTCQX and OTCQB names without restriction. Most do not charge a per-trade surcharge.
Pink Current is where access splits. Schwab, Fidelity, E*TRADE, Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, Webull and Moomoo accept Pink Current online. Robinhood, Public, SoFi and Cash App typically block the Pink tier entirely. Some brokers limit Pink-tier orders to specific account types or require enabling OTC trading in account settings.
Pink Limited is a specialist segment. Interactive Brokers accepts most Pink Limited orders through TWS with restrictions. Cobra Trading and CenterPoint Securities are the canonical specialist brokers for active Pink Limited trading. Most mainstream brokers either block the tier or accept orders only via broker-assisted phone calls at higher commissions.
Grey market is the most restricted. Only a handful of brokers — Interactive Brokers, full-service brokers like Schwab on a broker-assisted basis, and specialist firms — will handle a grey market order at all. There is no public bid/ask; pricing is negotiated.
Order entry mechanics
OTC names quote in different increments than listed stocks. Above $1, OTC quotes follow penny increments; below $1, sub-penny increments down to $0.0001 are common. A limit order placed at the wrong increment is rejected — most broker UIs handle this automatically but some require manual rounding.
OTC liquidity is highly concentrated at specific market makers. The buyer-of-last-resort on a thinly-traded Pink name may be a single MM; broker routing decisions and PFOF arrangements can produce execution variance of several percent on illiquid names. Limit orders pegged to the displayed inside quote are the default safe approach; market orders on OTC stocks below $1 frequently fill far worse than the displayed quote.
Short-sale execution on OTC names is extremely restricted. Most retail brokers do not maintain locate inventory on OTC stocks at all. Interactive Brokers and the specialist brokers offer locate on a subset of Pink Current names with active short interest.
Risk profile
OTC stocks are the highest-risk segment of public US equity markets. Disclosure is thinner, audits are less consistent, and going-concern issues are concentrated here. Manipulation schemes (pump-and-dump, matched-orders, market-making collusion) are documented in repeat SEC enforcement actions targeting Pink-tier issuers.
Tactically: treat any unsolicited recommendation on a Pink-tier name as adversarial. Position-size for total loss. Use limit orders only. Avoid trading OTC names in pre-market or after-hours — extended-hours OTC liquidity is effectively nonexistent. Read the issuer's most recent 10-K, 10-Q or OTC alternative reporting filing before opening a position.