The rise of secondary marketplaces, and what they still can't do

A decade ago, buying private-company shares required a personal network, a lawyer, and a lot of patience. Today, platforms like Forge, EquityZen, Nasdaq Private Market, and Hiive have turned much of that process into something closer to a checkout flow — browse available names, see indicative pricing, submit an offer. That's a real and valuable shift. It's also easy to overstate how much friction has actually disappeared. See the fullbuyer & fund directory for how each platform is structured.

What marketplaces genuinely fixed

Before these platforms existed, price discovery for a specific private company was close to impossible for anyone outside a small circle of insiders and specialist funds. Marketplaces publish indicative pricing for hundreds of names, standardize the paperwork around a transfer, and handle the KYC/AML checks both sides need — genuinely reducing the time and legal cost of a transaction that would have taken months to arrange privately a decade ago.

What they still can't touch: company consent

No marketplace can override a company's right of first refusal or its requirement for board consent before a transfer registers. A listing on Forge or EquityZen represents a seller's offer to sell, not a guarantee the company will let the transfer happen — which is why experienced marketplace users check a company's track record of approving (or blocking) transfers before assuming a listed position is actually buyable at the quoted price.

Thin, uneven liquidity behind a smooth interface

The interface makes buying feel liquid; the underlying market usually isn't. Most names on any given marketplace have only a handful of active listings at a time, and pricing for less well-known companies can be stale or based on very few actual transactions. A polished quote for a thinly traded name can imply more market depth than actually exists — worth checking transaction volume, not just the headline price, before treating a marketplace quote as reliable.

Consolidation is changing who runs the plumbing

Charles Schwab's 2026 acquisition of Forge Global is part of a broader pattern: marketplace infrastructure that started as independent fintech is increasingly being absorbed into larger, regulated financial institutions. That consolidation likely means more capital and compliance resources behind the platforms that survive it — and fewer, larger players setting the terms for how private-share liquidity actually works going forward.

The honest way to use a marketplace

Treat a marketplace quote as a starting point for negotiation and diligence, not a settled price — confirm the company's consent posture, check how many recent transactions actually back the quoted price, and read the full deal process before assuming a listed position is a click away from actually closing.