2018 was a banner year for the OTC Markets in terms of dollar trading volume.
According to the company, total dollar volume on the market was $375.2 billion in 2018. That represents an increase of 52 percent year-over-year, a significant jump from the 27 percent increase in 2016-2017.
A large part of this jump was driven by growth in hot sectors of the market, specifically cannabis. The marijuana sector alone accounted for $25 billion in volume last year, about 7 percent of all volume on the OTC Markets. In a year in which 10 U.S. states legalized some form of cannabis and the substance became federally legal in Canada, names like Medmen Enterprises Inc. MMNFF, CV Sciences, Inc. CVSI, and MariMed Inc MRMD all saw significant year-over-year increases in dollar volume. With a number of states expected to consider cannabis legalization in 2019, there’s reason to suggest this trend could continue as more capital flows into the developing industry.
Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding Ltd RHHBY was the most-traded OTCQX security of 2018, with over $11 billion worth of shares trading hands. That was followed up by the Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC, which had $10 billion of volume last year. The only other OTCQX securities with more than $2 billion of volume in 2018 were a pair of French companies, BNP Paribas BNPQY and Danone DANOY, which both finished the year with $2.3 billion in volume.
OTC Market also ended 2018 with over 10,400 securities trading on the markets, a five-year high. Additionally, 70 companies had their securities graduate from OTC Markets to an exchange in 2018—including popular names like Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB and Aphria Inc APHA—up from 61 in 2017 and 44 in 2016.
To put that in perspective, 12 companies graduated from Canada's TSX Venture Exchange to the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2018 and four companies graduated from London's AIM market to the London Stock Exchange.
The number of securities traded on the OTCQX Market in 2018 grew to 464, a 9 percent rise from 2017. Those new additions were bookended by Marapharm Ventures Inc. MRPHF on Jan. 2 and White River Bancshares Company WRIV on Dec. 27.
Below is a breakdown of the year-over-year changes on each market, per the company’s release.
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