Forge Global: Private Share Trading, Custody and Market Data

Forge is the largest institutional marketplace for secondary trading of private-company shares. Under one roof it combines a transaction marketplace, proprietary pricing data (Forge Price is embedded in Yahoo Finance), a suite of funds, and custody of private securities in self-directed IRA retirement accounts through Forge Trust. Execution here is broker-assisted: Forge brokers shepherd each transaction from order to settlement, so the format is closer to an organized auction than to the anonymous order book of Hiive.

Key parameters of the platform:

How Forge Grew

The company was founded in 2014 as Equidate—a platform where employees of "unicorns" could exercise options and gain liquidity before an IPO. In 2018 the project was renamed Forge, and in November 2020 Forge acquired its main competitor SharesPost (for approximately $160 million) to become the largest private-stock marketplace. In March 2022, through a merger with SPAC Motive Capital, the company went public on the NYSE under ticker FRGE and raised around $215 million. Schwab's purchase in 2026 closes this cycle: a niche player for professionals becomes part of one of the largest U.S. retail brokerages.

Scale and Deal of the Year

Cumulative transaction volume on the firm's own figures is more than $18.7 billion across 660+ private companies as at 31 March 2026; Schwab's deal announcement put it at more than $17 billion through 30 September 2025, and for a long time it remained the only publicly traded "pure-play" representative of the category (NYSE: FRGE). The key event: on November 6, 2025, Charles Schwab announced the acquisition of Forge for approximately $660 million—$45 per share in cash—and on March 2, 2026, the deal closed. Forge now operates as part of Schwab: the marketplace and data are being integrated into its ecosystem, but relationships with issuers and ongoing operations are preserved. The entry threshold for direct transactions is around $100,000; through Forge funds and indications of interest, orders are accepted from $5,000, though such lots are few.

What You Need to Understand

The main caution concerns Forge Price. It is a valuation estimate, and you cannot execute a transaction at that price: according to Forge's own disclaimer, the price "does not necessarily reflect market value" and may be based on very limited inputs. On top of Forge's own transaction fee — typically 2–4% on direct secondaries, and higher inside fund and SPV structures where the manager charges on top — third-party costs are added: transfer agent, lawyers, escrow. Access is open only to accredited investors: net worth over $1 million excluding primary residence, or income of $200,000 per year ($300,000 for married couples). And almost every transaction retains a ROFR—the right of first refusal for the company or early investors to buy the stake first, which means an already agreed purchase may not go through.

How Access Works

You can buy a stake on Forge in three ways: a direct transaction in a specific company (from ~$100,000), a single-company fund for one company, or a multi-company fund for a basket of names. The two fund formats lower the threshold and spread risk. Structurally, such a fund is typically organized as a Series LLC or LP, and investor capital is drawn through capital calls, as in classic private equity.

A separate product is data. Forge Price calculates indicative valuations based on closed transactions and orders, and these figures are what Yahoo Finance displays for private companies. For a market without official quotes, this is a rare benchmark: it's convenient for tracking valuation dynamics, though the price of a specific transaction is still negotiated separately.

For family offices, Forge is interesting in two scenarios. First—to make a targeted entry into a late-stage known company before its listing, without waiting for an IPO. Second—to hold such securities in a retirement wrapper: through Forge Trust, private shares can be placed in a self-directed IRA and grow inside a tax-deferred account. For an investor from Russia, both scenarios hinge on access to U.S. brokerage and sanctions screening by counterparties.

Regulation and Risks

Secondary trading of private shares is securities transactions under SEC oversight. Sales typically proceed under Reg D and Rule 144: securities have resale restrictions, and transfer requires issuer consent. Hence the ROFR and the company's right to block an unwanted buyer from the cap table. Liquidity here is conditional: a transaction can take weeks and fall through at any stage of approvals.

Tax arises on exit. Capital gains are taxed under the rules of the jurisdiction where the investor is a tax resident; the U.S. additionally withholds tax on certain payments to non-residents. If the stake or fund is held through a foreign structure, CFC reporting and related notifications must be checked under each applicable regime's taxpayer and control conditions.

What the Schwab Acquisition Changes

The rationale for Schwab is distribution. Forge had the technology, data, and deal flow, but a narrow audience of professionals; Schwab has millions of retail clients and thousands of independent advisors. The stated goal is to "democratize" access to private markets: scale Forge Price and the marketplace onto Schwab's platform while preserving Forge's relationships with issuers. For investors, this points to lower thresholds and a familiar interface in time, but Schwab has named no dates: announcing the closing on 2 March 2026, chief executive Rick Wurster said the firm would introduce Forge's products and capabilities to more individual investors and RIAs "over time" and would share details of the integration and the combined offer "in the months ahead", while Forge continues to run its business and its issuer relationships in the meantime (Charles Schwab, 2 March 2026).