An IPO, or initial public offering, is when a firm decides to become public. It marks the date that ownership in the company is traded on public stock exchanges. Prior to a stock going public, solicited investors commit to purchase a certain amount or monetary value of shares. An IPO allotment status is usually checked through a trading or financial services company.
The underwriter of an IPO will usually file an agreement with a government agency to sell or offer a certain amount of shares for a predetermined selling price. An investor's IPO allotment status can be affected by whether the filing went through on the predetermined date, the final selling price of the stock at the end of the trading period, and the number of shares that were actually sold.
When an IPO enters its first trading period, it usually lasts for three days. Since the trading price and number of shares can fluctuate in one day, the volatility of an IPO's initial trading period is high. The number of initial shares to be traded, as well as the opening trading price, is largely determined by the amount of pre-secured trading interest that the stock's underwriter obtains prior to the first day of the trading period.
Investors are interested in getting an IPO allotment status since it informs them if the IPO listing actually went through. Government agencies may delay the approval of an IPO for a number of reasons. One of those reasons includes incorrect financial information received from the company or its underwriter.
If for some reason an initial public offering does not go through, investors will typically receive a refund of the money they have already pledged to the company. An allotment status will also show whether the investor made a profit or experienced a loss on the initial outlay of funds. In addition, the status will show the amount of shares awarded to each individual investor.
There are many online sources that will allow investors to check their IPO allotment status. Most of these are dedicated to specific stock markets or trading exchanges. They may include emerging markets that cover companies in certain countries or geographic regions. Financial and trading companies also provide tools that allow investors to check the IPO allotment status of specific stocks.
To check the status online, the company name or ticker symbol is needed. Some of these online tools provide drop-down menus where investors can select from a number of known IPO offerings. The research to obtain the company name or ticker symbol shouldn't be too in-depth. All IPO filings are required to be approved through a government agency and made known to the general public by the underwriter.