As we noted earlier, today's Twitter IPO, while pricing without the Facebook associated histrionics or crashing the NASDAQ, has had an impact on markets. A rather profound impact it appears, because as the OTC BB site, the host of pink sheet, OTC and Bulletin Board stocks just reported, the entire OTC market has been shut down by Finra.
From OTCBB [7]:
Market Wide Quotation and Trading Halt for All OTC Equity Securities
On Thursday, November 7, 2013, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) halted trading in all OTC Equity Securities pursuant to FINRA Rule 6440(a)(3). FINRA determined to impose a temporary halt because of a lack of current quotation information. Therefore, FINRA has determined that halting quoting and trading in all OTC Equity Securities is appropriate to protect investors and ensure a fair and orderly marketplace. The trading and quotation halt began on Thursday, November 7, 2013, at 11:25:00 a.m. E.T. FINRA will notify the market when trading may resume.
Contact Information: Questions regarding this notice can be directed to: FINRA Operations at (866) 776-0800.
So to protect investors, Finra is shutting down the entire market. Let's hope this is not just a test of what is coming to far more liquid exchanges.
As to why the entire OTC BB market just break? Who knows, or cares. As long as the NYSE, and more importantly Twitter, is fine all is well.