Other exchanges?

[akehuhar]

Up til now, I only thought there were 2 exchanges... the "big boys" (AMEX, NYSE, etc), and the "otc" (OTB-BB and PinkSheet).

Then yesterday I'm randomly looking around for stocks and I find one listed as "Dark" and one listed as "Gray Pool". So what the hell are these?

[AlbertDumb]

Dark and grey pools are private exchanges. However, most of the stocks that are traded 'dark' are also listed on Nyse/Nasdaq, as the Dark pool is designed so large transactions can be made without public knowledge.

Say you work at Hedge Fund X and your buddy over at Hedge Fund Z wants to buy your 5 million shares of XYZA so he doesn't have to squeeze the market to cover his short. Use a dark pool and no one has to even know it took place other than your 2 funds.

[Alberttary]

There are also smaller privatized exchanges for private companies that have not yet filed with the SEC to go public. You must be a verified accredited investor to get in. The most popular one is SharesPost.com (http://sharespost.com/)

Then you have regional exchanges. KCBT PHLX, etc and CBOT for options/commodities. Plus BATS. But really all the stocks you want to trade are listed NYSE/Nasdaq. But sharespost worth a look if interested in investing before a possible IPO.

[Alealokato]

I would argue that dark pools do less to the market than a PIPE deal. We just don't know all the dark pool trades and I'm okay with that. I don't want someone dumping 5 million shares in a hurry if they need out, just let them match a buyer behind the scenes. However, when a bank/hedge fund/private investor jumps into a stock at a discounted price in PIPE deal we all know the price (if it was a registered deal) they bought shares at so it effects the market right away.

[Alenadups]

Good point, Blaine, as usual. http://onlinetradersforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png