Forge captures $5M plus block trades

Forge is strongest where private market trading starts to look less like a curated fund sale and more like a real market. EquityZen is built to gather many smaller accredited investors into SPVs and close trades over weeks. Forge has moved further upstream. Its ATS, institutional workflows, and pricing products make it easier to clear larger negotiated blocks, especially when a seller wants one buyer for a $5 million plus line instead of waiting for a syndicate to fill.

• EquityZen’s core advantage is aggregation. It can take a rank and file employee or early holder with a modest position, line up accredited demand, and place the shares into an LLC vehicle so only EquityZen sits on the cap table. That is useful for smaller and mid sized trades, but it is slower and less natural for a single large block.
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• The market has long split between marketplace models like Forge and EquityZen, which help smaller holders find liquidity, and issuer centric venues like Nasdaq Private Market. As block size rises, buyers become more institutional, want tighter price discovery, and expect broker and trading desk style workflows, which is where Forge has been investing.
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• This matters because supply in secondaries is scarce. The best stock often gets sold through whoever can offer the cleanest execution, the clearest price signal, and the least friction for issuers and large sellers. If Forge can show a credible market price and cross a block quickly on regulated rails, the seller does not need EquityZen to assemble dozens of smaller checks.
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The next phase of competition is a shift from access to execution. EquityZen can keep winning with retail and sub institutional demand, but the highest value flow will increasingly go to platforms that combine market data, broker infrastructure, and issuer friendly settlement into something that feels closer to a private Nasdaq than a private syndicate.