Over the Counter Stocks

Holding preferred stocks usually assures the stockholder of getting a fixed amount of dividend which is also higher when compared to the dividend paid out for common stocks, and the dividends for common stocks are not known by the stockholder until they are paid out.  The value of common stocks depends on the fluctuations of the market, but at the same time buying these stocks is better when compared to buying penny stocks.  To the common man the common stock will be more tempting because of its high growth prospective in a faster way, and also investing in a large cap company of a company stock is much preferable.  Even though preferred stocks give out higher dividends, in the long run common stocks tend to give higher profits when compared to preferred stocks, as the value of common stocks moves along with the market movement, they are mostly preferred by investors. 

            For an investor who invests in common and preferred stocks, even if a company goes bankrupt it would not make much difference as due to his continuous and daily monitoring of the common stocks he will be in a position to sell off the stocks to his advantage.  Over the counter markets are usually not traded in the stock market but are rather traded through a dealer who in turn directly deals with the sellers and the buyers.  These are mostly listed in the over the counter bulletin boards, bonds fall into the category of the over the counter markets as they are not directly traded in the market, these markets are also important as they give the investor an alternative to being invested in markets and they also help investors to concentrate on smaller stocks which have a greater potential to grow.  But investors should be very cautious and do extensive research before investing in such over the counter markets.