Market Structure Overview

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What this video covers

  • The exact boundary between the primary market (new securities, initial public offerings) and the secondary market (previously issued securities trading between investors)
  • How to classify any trade into the correct one of the four secondary markets: first, second, third, or fourth
  • Why the third market is specifically exchange-listed securities traded over-the-counter (OTC), and how this differs from the second market for unlisted securities
  • How institutional investors use the third market to bypass exchange fees and preserve anonymity on large block trades
  • What the fourth market is: direct institution-to-institution trading through electronic communications networks (ECNs) with no broker-dealer intermediary
  • The auction market model used by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a single designated market maker (DMM) per security
  • Why Nasdaq, despite being a national securities exchange, operates as a dealer market with multiple competing market makers posting simultaneous quotes

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