The First Half Of 2019 On OTC Markets: By The Numbers

With the second half of 2019 well underway, let’s take a look back at 10 numbers that defined the activity on OTC Markets through the first six months of the year. 

1) 187

The number of securities that joined the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets in the first half of the year—60 joined OTCQX, and 133 joined OTCQB. This falls in line with last year’s rate of 369 new securities for the year. 

2) 62%

The percentage of new companies located outside the United States. Just over half of the new securities in 2019 are Canadian, nearly all of which are cross-traded on the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange, or Canadian Securities Exchange. 

Companies from Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, The Netherlands, and the UK also joined the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets so far this year. 

3)  8

Eight securities on the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets experienced at least $1 billion worth of dollar volume in the first six months of the year. 

On OTCQX, those securities were Roche Holding Ltd RHHBY, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) GBTC, Imperial Brands PLC IMBBY, Danone DANOY. On OTCQB, Fannie Mae FNMA, Fannie Mae FNMAS, Freddie Mac FMCKJ, and Freddie Mac FMCC, all topped the $1 billion thresholds. 

4) 55

The number of new securities that have some type of exposure to the cannabis industry. This includes names like Acreage Holdings ACRGF and Cresco Labs Inc. CRLBF. 

5) 4

The number of new securities with exposure to blockchain. These companies are Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH) ETHE, Converge Technology Solutions Corporation CTSDF, HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. HVBTF, and Codebase Ventures Inc BKLLF. 

6) $232 Million

The average total daily dollar volume for the 450 securities that trade on the OTCQX Best Market. This includes names such as adidas ADDYY, BNP Paribas BNPQY, and Deutsche Telekom DTEGY. 

7) 27%

The first-half performance of the OTCQX U.S. Index, a benchmark for tracking all the  U.S.-based companies on the OTCQX Market, making it the best-performing of the nine indices that track the OTC Markets. 110 securities composed the index as of June 30. 

8) 15.11%

The total return, through June 30, of the OTCQX Composite Index, which tracks the overall performance of the OTCQX Market.

9) 4.78%

The average total return of the 59 securities that joined OTCQX in 2019 from their first day trading on OTCQX through June 30. 

10) 38

The number of securities to join the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets in January, the most of any month in the first half of the year. 

OTC Markets is a content partner of Benzinga