what is oversubscribed 
oversubscribed is a term used when the demand for a new issue of stock is greater than the number of shares available when a new issue is oversubscribed underwriters or other financial entities offering the security can adjust the price upward or offer more securities to reflect the higher than anticipated demand an oversubscribed issue can be contrasted with an undersubscribed issue where demand cannot fully meet the available supply of shares understanding oversubscribed issuesan oversubscribed security offering often occurs when the interest for it far exceeds the available supply of the issue over subscription can happen in any market where the available supply of new securities is limited but is most often associated with the sale of newly minted shares in the secondary market via an initial public offering ipo here the demand exceeds the total number of shares issued by the ipo ing company the degree of oversubscription is shown as a multiple such as abc ipo oversubscribed two times a two times multiple means there is effectively twice as much demand for shares as there are available in the scheduled issue share prices are intentionally set at a level that will ideally sell all shares the underwriters of an ipo generally do not want to be left with unpurchased shares in an undersubscribed issue 