Offering Marketplace: A Guide to Our Offerings

Offering Marketplace^TM allows you to learn about IPO's and secondary offerings and place a Conditional Offer (C.O.) to buy shares of offerings online.

When purchasing shares in a public offering (initial or secondary), key decisions and actions revolve around the Expected Pricing Date, which is the date the offering is expected to price and be declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Please visit the Offering Marketplace and check your email frequently during this time for updates that may require action on your part. Below are typical decisions and actions that occur in the days leading up to the Expected Pricing Date.

Click here to review decisions and actions that occur during exception scenarios.

Before You Place a Conditional Offer -- Educate Yourself!

If you are considering an investment in an offering, educate yourself about the company making the offering by reading the preliminary prospectus found as a link to each offering's posting on this site. It is your guide to understanding the company's business and management team, as well as the risks involved in the investment. We will also email you an alert and post on the site the "Open" period, the time within which you can submit a Conditional Offer (C.O.).

Placing a Conditional Offer During the "Open" Period

When the period for placing a C.O. is open, you will need to do the following:

1. Login to the secured part of the FBRDirect site.
2. Download and review the preliminary prospectus of the offering you are interested in.
3. Complete a few offering-related questions.

Now you're ready to place a C.O. First, enter the number of shares you want to purchase in round lots of 100 and your "Limit Price Range," the range in which you are willing to purchase the stock. If the final stock price falls below or above your specified range, your order will not be accepted. Your Limit Price Range may be equal to or must fall within the expected price range for the offering specified in the preliminary prospectus.

For Example: The expected price range of an IPO, specified in the preliminary prospectus, is $13 to $16. You have set your Limit Price Range for that IPO at $13 to $15. If the final price of the offering is $16, your C.O. will not be excepted because the final price was outside your Limit Price Range.

Note: At any time during the open period, you may modify or cancel an existing CO.

Pricing: Expected Pricing Date

Before an offering begins trading, the registration statement for the offering must be declared effective by the SEC. This typically occurs the day before the offering is expected to trade, but occasionally occurs the morning of trading. After the final price has been set and the offering has been declared effective, you will be notified via e-mail of the price and will have a final opportunity to cancel your C.O.

Selection and Allocation

Unless you cancel your C.O., it will be entered into our computer-generated random selection process. Neither the time at which you place your CO nor the number of shares requested will have any effect on the selection process. You will then receive an e-mail alert that you did, or did not, receive an allocation of shares in the offering. If you are allocated shares, your C.O. will become a binding contract. The allocated shares will appear in your online trading account before the security begins to trade in the secondary market.

*Exceptions: At certain points after you have entered your C.O., you may be asked to reconfirm your intention to participate in this offering by returning to the secure access site. The need for reconfirmation is generally triggered by events that change important terms of the offering (i.e. changes in the expected price range, changes to the prospectus, etc.). Please view our Offering Marketplace Scenario Matrix for additional information about the reconfirmation process.

Initial public offerings are high-risk, speculative investments and may not be suitable for all investors. FBR Investment Services, Inc., member SIPC.