An offering of shares of securities is said to be "fully subscribed" when all the shares have been sold to investors. The term is most commonly used to describe a situation in which an investment banking firm acts as the underwriter for an offering and sells its entire allotment of the shares at the initial price at which the securities were offered. If the offer price for the shares was too high for the market demand for the shares, the firm will not be able to sell all of its allotment and will be undersubscribed; in this case, the firm must hold the remaining shares itself or sell them at a loss.