Cronos Group's 40% After-Hours Mystery Rally: What We Know

Cronos Group Inc. CRON shares spiked 41.5% during Wednesday's after-market session at about 6:20 p.m.

Peers such as Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB and Tilray Inc TLRY made significant moves higher in sympathy with Cronos Group.

PreMarket Prep co-hosts Dennis Dick and Joel Elconin discussed the stock’s after-hours move on Thursday's episode.

No Apparent Catalyst

Something big must have caused Cronos' move, but it's unknown, Dick said.

The only apparent news about the company was that it conducted an IPO in Australia, but it's unclear whether this caused the jump, according to the co-hosts.

Many pot stocks had a rough time during Wednesday's regular session. but Cronos closed in the green.

"I don’t know what’s going on here," Dick said. “I don’t see any media headline.”

500,000 shares were being bet at $10.44 in the premarket session, with another another 230,000 shares being bet at $10.35 and 500,000 at $10.13.

“It’s almost like somebody is posting huge bids up there and driving the price up," Dick said. “I have no idea — those are huge bids."

Click here for more information about the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Oct. 22-23 in Chicago.

Canada's One-Year Legalization Anniversary

Earlier, other pot stocks, like CannTrust Holdings Inc CTST scored double-digit gains due to an exchange traded portfolio rebalancing its portfolio after major changes to the market price, according to MarketWatch.

The publication reported that two block trades totaling around 1.2 million shares were recorded at 5:09 p.m. ET with a price of $8.40 a share, which could be the potential cause of the jump.

Cronos short interest is ~25% right now. After the block crossed, they got worried news was going to drop and fled to cover their positions, making $cron rampage after hrs (mini squeeze). There is/was no Cronos news and no change to the fundamentals.

— A Cash Generating Unit of Dow Jones (@chernandburn) October 17, 2019

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of cannabis legalization in Canada. The country is launching "Cannabis 2.0," legalizing edibles, beverages and other cannabis derivative products.