what is illiquid 
illiquid refers to the state of a stock bond or other assets that cannot easily and readily be sold or exchanged for cash without a substantial loss in value illiquid assets may be hard to sell quickly because there is low trading activity or interest in the issue indicated by a lack of ready and willing investors or speculators to purchase or sell the asset as a result illiquid assets tend to have lower trading volume wider bid ask spreads and greater price volatility illiquidity is the opposite of liquidity illiquidity explainedregarding illiquid assets the lack of ready buyers also leads to larger discrepancies between the asking price set by the seller and the bid price submitted by the buyer this difference leads to much larger bid ask spreads than would be found in an orderly market with daily trading activity the lack of depth of the market dom or ready buyers can cause holders of illiquid assets to experience losses especially when the investor is looking to sell quickly illiquidity in the context of a business refers to a company that does not have the cash flows necessary to make its required debt payments although it does not mean the company is without assets capital assets including real estate and production equipment often have value but are not easily sold when cash is required the sale of illiquid assets is not a company s core business they generally include any property owned by the company that is outside of the products produced for sale in times of crisis a company may need to liquidate these assets to avoid bankruptcy and if this happens quickly it can dispose of assets at prices far below an orderly fair market price sometimes known as a fire sale additionally a company may become illiquid if it is unable to obtain the cash necessary to meet debt obligations examples of illiquid and liquid assetssome examples of inherently illiquid assets include houses and other real estate cars antiques private company interests and some types of debt instruments certain collectibles and art pieces are often illiquid assets as well stocks that trade on over the counter otc markets are also often less liquid than those listed on robust exchanges though these assets may have inherent value the marketplace in which they are sold often has few buyers in comparison to those interested in the purchase of more liquid assets on the other end of the spectrum most listed securities traded at major exchanges such as stocks etfs mutual funds bonds and listed commodities are very liquid and can be sold almost instantaneously during regular market hours at fair market price additionally precious metals such as gold and silver are often fairly liquid trading after normal business hours can also result in illiquidity because many market participants are not active in the market at those times an asset s liquidity may change over time depending on outside market influences this change in price is especially true for collectibles as an item s popularity in the consumer market may fluctuate dramatically leading to highly volatile pricing illiquidity and increased riskilliquid securities carry higher risks than liquid ones known as liquidity risk which becomes especially true during times of market turmoil when the ratio of buyers to sellers is thrown out of balance during these times holders of illiquid securities may find themselves unable to unload them at all or unable to do so without losing money illiquid securities also may demand a liquidity premium added to their price to compensate for the fact that they may difficult to dispose of later on during times of financial panic markets and credit facilities may seize up causing a liquidity crisis when sellers of even marketable securities find it challenging to find eager buyers at fair prices real world exampleilliquidity can leave both companies and individuals unable to generate enough cash to pay their debts for example the economic times reported that jet airways had delayed repayment of overseas debt for the fourth time in recent months due to a corporate illiquidity crisis that left the company struggling to access liquid funds as a result jet airways not only had to ground more than 80 planes but it also put together a resolution plan that called for the resignation of its chair naresh goyal and the board voting to allow lenders to take control of the airline 1