7 Numbers That Sum Up The Record Trading Activity On OTC Markets In 2020

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

It was a historic year for investors—both good and bad, depending on the market and industry. 

Trading activity spiked dramatically on OTC Markets’ top two tiers, OTCQX and OTCQB, as traders negotiated their way through a global pandemic, a Presidential election, and record-breaking volatility. 

Below are seven numbers to help put 2020 investments and trading in perspective. 

11,578

The number of securities that traded on OTC Markets as of December 31, 2020, up from 10,760 at the end of 2019 and 10,465 at the end of 2018. 

That figure, which is more than the NYSE and Nasdaq combined includes 511 securities on the OTCQX Best Market, the top tier of OTC Markets typically for more established companies, and 948 securities on the OTCQB Venture Market, the middle tier typically for emerging companies.

349 

The number of new securities added to the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets last year—113 on OTCQX and 236 on OTCQB. This is in-line with previous years (332 new securities were added in 2019). 

$2.4 billion

The average 2020 dollar volume of the top 30 most actively traded OTCQX securities. In 2019, that figure was just $606 million. 

42

The number of securities across the three main tiers of OTC Markets (OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pink) that exceeded $1 billion in dollar volume. These include cryptocurrency derivatives like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, pharmaceutical giants like Roche Holding Ltd RHHBY, credit monitoring service Experian plc EXPGY, and Heineken N.V. HEINY.

33%

That was the 2020 return of the OTCQX Cannabis Index, which tracks the cannabis securities that trade on the OTCQX Market. In comparison, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJ, the largest cannabis ETF by assets, rose just 6%. (Note: investors cannot trade an index).

10

The number of countries represented among the 30 most actively traded (by dollar volume) securities on OTCQX. Those countries are the U.S., Switzerland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, and China. 

6

Six of the top 30 most actively traded securities on the OTCQX Market offer direct exposure to the cryptocurrency market: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC, Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETHE, Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund BITW, Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund GDLC, HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. HVBTF, Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust BCHG. 

In 2019, only GBTC cracked the list of most-traded securities. 

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.