I think the issue with timing is that the larger exchanges did extend their time lines given the economic conditions, but, they didn't forecast things would stay as bad as they have as long as they have, and given bureaucratic inertia, the markets are simply failing to come to grips with the economic reality their companies are facing, and, in particular, the reality that the listing is not actually helping the companies in raising the capital they require.
The erosion is occurring from the bottom up... but, it isn't occurring only as a function of failures forcing the decision. So, it looks to me like OTCQX is succeeding in making serious inroads in NASDAQ's rep... as the QX is now becoming accepted as "nearly as legitimate as NASDAQ" given the veneer in the requirements are similar.
Beyond that... it is clear that three key factors are driving it...
One is that the cost is lower... and lower tier company's are pinching pennies. If the hit to the rep the move entails isn't that bad, saving on the cost may be worth it. And, the hit to the rep appears it is minimized by making the move early enough that it is truly seen as a voluntary move, and not one driven by risk or threat or after the fact of a failure. It's like making the choice of going to an easy school and getting good grades majoring in Psych instead of waiting until you're flunking out of your nanoscience/MBA double major at MIT.
Second is that the QX level of oversight is less onerous... so, both a cost issue and time issue in compliance, but also an issue of just finding it useful to avoid the higher level of oversight...
Third is that the move DOES make additional capital available, that wasn't available to the lower tier companies before they made the move. There is a COST issue inherent in the availability, still, but, between cost and availability, availability wins.
Related to the last two... the lowered standards also make it easier for company managements to "carve out a little more for themselves" while accepting lesser quality financing. It shouldn't be too surprising that it appears that management throwing shareholders under the convertible note bus in return for a promise of a bigger paycheck seems it is a motive in some... including one of those that was a chart pick that got me started looking at this... BNVI...
CPY delisting and now trading as CPIC is another... that doesn't yet appear to have the financing problems.
TBUS at a bottom after making the move... looks ready to move higher...
OTCM posts news of accessions only when they begin trading... so, you can look at OTCM on Yahoo Finance and see the recent news on each of them easily enough. They take the big hit when the put out the news... so, there is probably a pattern trade to work between the announcement and when they begin trading on the new listing... but I've not figured it out yet... and have enough irons in the fire now that it might take a bit of time before I get to that...
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