Canopy Growth Corporation – a Smiths Falls, Ontario-based cannabis company – has made the decision to transition from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the NASDAQ. This money-saving move is expected to help the Canadian cannabis company regain itself financially after reporting losses of CAD $128 million (equivalent to USD $97 million) in the last quarter.

Reports have confirmed that the move was effectuated on November 13. November 16 is the date on which Canopy will start trading on the NASDAQ for the very first time.

“Making the transition to NASDAQ also provides us with greater cost-effectiveness and access to a suite of tools and services that will help us connect more efficiently with our current and future investors,” explained Canopy CEO David Klein in an official news release.

Canopy follows in the footsteps of Aphria, which also converted its public stock listing at the beginning of 2020 due to financial constraints.

NASDAQ listing fees for cannabis stocks are lower than the NYSE 

Canopy’s decision to trade shares of its pot stocks on the NASDAQ will see the company retain its NYSE symbol “CGC”. The major cannabis company can also be found trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker “WEED”.

Something that has greatly influenced the company’s choice is the lower costs tied to NASDAQ trading; it is a well-known fact that business owners can publicly trade their company’s stocks for a cheaper price on the NASDAQ. 

Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett made a note of this when he wrote about Aphria’s transition from the NYSE back in May. Comparatively, listing fees for the NASDAQ and the NYSE differ “with an order of magnitude for the annual saving of the low-hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to Bennett.

Cannabis stocks are exploding since Biden was elected as the next U.S. president 

It’s a good time for cannabis companies to up their game in terms of where they publicly traded pot stocks for a good return. Why? Because the recent elections, which were held on November 3, prompted a spike in trading activity. Five U.S. states passed recreational and/or medical cannabis measures on Election Day — Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota.

Since the Biden-Harris administration has previously signified that cannabis reform could be pushed in the right direction under its guidance, interest in the nascent U.S. industry – projected to reach $30 billion annually by 2025 – is spiking. Most notably, cannabis stock value soared 10 percent for Tilray (TLRY) and Canopy Growth (CGC), whereas Aurora Cannabis (ACB) grew 20 percent.