OTC Markets Group’s Best Market rises in 2Q as membership swells

The OTC Markets Group Inc (OTCQX:OTCM) announced Friday that the overall OTCQX Best Market was up 3.5% in the second quarter as its membership swelled.  

The New York-based operator of financial markets said there are over 450 securities from 27 countries traded on the OTCQX Best Market.

The OTC Markets Group operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 US and global securities.

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While announcing its quarterly index rebalancing, the OTC Markets Group said 50 new companies were added to the OTCQX, including Duos Technologies Group Inc (OTCQX:DUOT) Halo Labs Inc (OTCQX:AGEEF), BBX Capital Corporation (OTCQX:BBXTB), and Freedom Oil and Gas Ltd (OTCQX:FDMQF).

“Graduating to the OTCQX platform represents the ultimate level of recognition within the OTC community,” said Duos Technologies CEO Gianni Arcaini, a 30-year veteran of the tech space, who is the brains behind much of Duos Technology’s 14 patents.

Duos offers proprietary technology to both freight and transit railroads including its Railcar Inspection Portal, a 360-degree modular intelligent visualization system.

As part of the rebalancing, 39 companies were dropped from the index, including Dyadic International Inc (NASDAQ:DYAI), which graduated to the tech-laden Nasdaq on April 4. Jupiter, Florida-based Dyadic leverages its proprietary C1 technology — an industrially proven fungal gene expression technology — to help bring biologic vaccines, enzymes, proteins, biosimilars, and drugs to market faster and at a lower cost.

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The OTCQX Cannabis Index (OTCQXMJ), which tracks the performance of 30 cannabis companies trading on the OTCQX Best Market, was down 26% in the second quarter.

“The OTCQX Cannabis Index provides another tool for the investing public to better identify, measure and track the performance of this global industry as it progresses over time,” said Jason Paltrowitz, executive vice president of corporate services at OTC Markets Group.

All told, roughly 56 cannabis-related securities trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Six new companies joined the widely tracked cannabis index including Halo Labs Inc, Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp (OTCQX:HERTF), Medipharm Labs Corp (OTCQX: MEDIF), Next Green Wave (OTCQX:NXGWF), Planet 13 Holdings Inc (OTCQX: PLNHF) and Radient Technologies Inc (OTCQX: RDDTF). Five companies were dropped from the index.

The OTCQX Billion+ Index (OTCQXBIL), which tracks the performance of one billion-plus market cap OTCQX companies, was up 3.8% for the quarter. Four new companies, including Acreage Holdings Inc (OTCQX:ACRGF) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (OTCQX: SMICY) were added to the index, while four companies fell by the wayside.

Meanwhile, the OTCQX Dividend Index (OTCQXDIV), which tracks dividend-paying US and international OTCQX companies, was up 3.7% in the quarter. Thirteen new companies were added to the index and 20 companies were removed.

The OTCQX Canada Index (OTCQXCAN), which tracks Canadian OTCQX companies, was down 4.1% in the second quarter. Twenty-one companies were added to the index and 15 companies were removed.

Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive 

Story by ProactiveInvestors