May 8-9, 2010 - Weekend Report

The following report by our Editor in Chief is a “must read” for every person who trades stocks.  Please save for future reference and forward to your friends.

New OTC Market Tier Launched for all U.S. Registered and Reporting OTC Securities

What is happening to The Bulletin Board?

Have you noticed why the number of market makers that quote a Bulletin Board stock seems to have dropped off over the last six months? How about why Alphatrade and some other quote systems have two separate bid and offer quotes for the same stock – one that is quoted Pink Sheet and the other Bulletin Board?  Do you know why market marker Knight Capital (NITE), the largest market maker of OTC securities, has stopped quoting many stocks on the BB and only quote these stocks on the Pinks?

Apparently, OTC Bulletin Board® Market Markers are now billed participation fees by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) based on the number of positions during a month.  A position is defined as any quotation that is priced or unpriced, firm or non-firm, one-sided or two-sided, or any indication of interest entered by a Market Maker in an OTCBB security. 

These fees have made it challenging for market maker firms to maintain markets in a huge number of stocks that are not active.  Therefore, market makers simply drop from making markets on the BB for many stocks, or drop making a market altogether.  This is bad for stocks that trade on the BB because investors will be less willing to establish a position in a stock that has a wide spread and little liquidity or trading volume.

The good news is the very recent formation of a totally new market tier from Pink OTC Markets Inc. that we, at The Green Baron Report, expect to eventually replace the Bulletin Board.  The new OTCQB market provides distinct advantages that we view as significant and will discuss when we talk about SLGX later in this report, and could resurrect active trading and market maker participation in low priced securities.

Creation of the OTCQB™ marketplace

Note: New Green Baron “Stock Pick” Sillenger Exploration released on Thursday, May 6 after the close of trading is actually traded on the new OTC QB (Sillenger Exploration – OTCBQ: SLGX).  Real-time Level 2 quotes are free.  See more on this later in our report.

On April 5, 2010, the following was announced:

NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In an effort to better distinguish OTC securities that are registered and reporting with U.S. regulators, Pink OTC Markets Inc. (OTCQX: PINK), today announced the creation of the OTCQB™  marketplace. This new comprehensive OTC market tier will include the securities of over 768 SEC reporting companies and banks formerly designated as Pink Sheets® stocks, in addition to the 3050 securities that are currently quoted in both Pink OTC Markets' electronic interdealer quotation system and FINRA's OTCBB™.

Pink OTC Markets' electronic interdealer quotation and trading system has become the leading platform for market makers, agency brokers and ECNs in the U.S. OTC market.  More broker-dealers are choosing the superior performance and functionality of Pink OTC Markets' open, transparent and broker-neutral platform over FINRA's OTCBB for publishing quotes in SEC reporting and bank reporting stocks. The Pink OTC platform has 49,196 priced quotes and 7.93 market makers per security compared to 10,922 priced quotes and 6.25 market makers per security on the OTC Bulletin Board.  As a result, it is important Pink OTC Markets provide a separate designation to identify OTC-traded companies that are registered with the SEC or banking regulator and remain current in their reporting obligations. With the creation of OTCQB, investors will now be able to easily identify all registered and reporting companies quoted on the OTC market's leading platform for market makers, agency brokers and ECNs.

In addition to the newly launched OTCQB, Pink OTC Markets also operates the quality- controlled OTCQX® marketplace for investor friendly companies and the Pink Sheets speculative trading marketplace.

"We created the OTCQB as the middle tier of the OTC market to better distinguish OTC-traded companies that have made the substantial commitment to investor disclosure by being registered and reporting with a U.S. regulator," said R. Cromwell Coulson, President and CEO of Pink OTC Markets Inc. "By segmenting the OTC marketplace, we believe that issuers will be motivated to provide the highest level of disclosure and compliance that they are capable of supplying, which will ultimately lead to more efficient capital allocation by investors."

Pink OTC Markets makes Real-Time Level 2 market maker quotations for all OTCQB securities available to investors on www.otcmarkets.com.  All securities in the new OTCQB tier will be displayed on www.otcmarkets.com with an icon reading, "OTCQB – U.S. Registered." For more information on the OTC Market Tiers, see

http://www.otcmarkets.com/pink/otcguide...

 

“Stock Pick” Update

Sillenger Exploration

(OTCQB: SLGX)

SLGX Rallies on First Trading Day after Release of our Profile; SLGX closes at $1.39 up .14 per share

We asked our members to take a leap of faith on Thursday and get a position in SLGX on Friday.  Based on very sloppy market conditions and a story that can be difficult to grasp at this point, we understand why only a few of you participated.  However, please don’t walk away from this story.  We believe companies that have access to and identify major rare earth and precious metal discoveries are going to be the biggest winners in the stock market over the next few years – Sillenger is expected to be a leader.

It is very important that some of you grab shares of SLGX at these prices.  We would like as many of you as possible to own shares at prices below $1.60 per share, and we are suggesting members to get anything available under $2.00.  The Green Baron Report is absolutely convinced that SLGX is going to be a home run.  Yes, we are planning to quote this last comment in future Green Baron updates.

If you are still reading this report and can afford to buy this stock, this is the one you want to own.  We want to help you build your account and this is a great point to start. Now that SLGX is quoted on the OTC QB market, you get free Level 2 quotes anytime you want and it is in REAL TIME.  Here is the link that will take you directly to this page for Level 2 quotes on SLGX:

http://www.otcmarkets.com/pink/quote...

About Sillenger Exploration Corp.

Sillenger is a natural resource development company dedicated to bringing a progressive, creative and proprietary approach to natural resource exploration. The Company believes Africa to be the new frontier in the mining industry. Parts of Africa have been noted for a rich history in gold, diamond, and other precious mineral mining. The continent hosts a number of major base metals mines extracting copper, zinc, bauxite, iron ore, etc. Recent exploration activity has led to the discovery of rare element strategic minerals such as uranium, tantalum, gallium and lithium.

While Sillenger’s initial focus will be Africa, the Company will consider and examine any opportunities that lend themselves to the income statement and can build lasting value for Sillenger shareholders.