offerings on the officialbourse.In2006,there were only 109 listed companies on the HOSTC,leaving far too few shares to meet demand. In addition,the official share market is tightly regulated.For example, the HOSTC suspends trading of a particular stock if it rises or falls more than5%in one day.For OTC traders,( 30 ).As a result, traders have seen the price of their stock double in a single day.
Shares in the OTC market are traded over websites and Internet
chat rooms frequented by thousands of traders each day.This flexibility is attractive to traders,though it can certainly( 31 ).Reliable data on companies is virtually nonexistent,making valuation of the stock a futile exercise.However,this does not put off investors,many of whom erroneously assume that the only direction shares can go is up.Some people warn against the way that buyers often determine the value of OTC shares“Basically,the way stocks are researched is,'My grandfather's uncle's cousin's wife works at this company and says it's a good buy,'”says Mike Temple,a securities-trading expert.
(29) 1 has government officials worried
2 has investors excited
3 investors are not taking seriously 4 traders are choosing to ignore
(30) 1 there are no such rules
2 the regulations are important