Weed stocks: Robinhood having trouble executing trades for Aurora

People
observe marijuana plants while visiting the “Expo Cannabis” forum
in Montevideo
Thomson
Reuters

• Robinhood has suspended new buying of
  Aurora Cannabis through its platform, the brokerage said
  Wednesday.
• “This is happening because there’s limited support at
  execution venues for the large volume of ACBFF orders we’ve
  received,” it told users who own shares. 
• Cannabis stocks are among the most popular on the
  brokerage, outpacing many tech names, as they continue to hit
  fresh highs. 
• 
  Follow Aurora Cannabis in real-time
  here. 
  

Cannabis investors on Robinhood woke up to a surprise Wednesday
morning: the zero-fee trading app has suspended new buying of

Aurora Cannabis, one of the highest-valued and most-popular
marijuana stocks. 

“This is happening because there’s limited support at execution
venues for the large volume of ACBFF orders we’ve received,”
Robinhood told users who own shares of Aurora. “We appreciate
your understanding and hope to re-enable buy orders for ACBFF in
the future.” ACBFF is an over-the-counter (OTC) market
ticker that allows US investors to buy the Canadian stock, which
trades in Toronto.

A Robinhood spokesperson declined to comment further on the
issue, but notes users can still hold and sell their existing
positions. 

As of Wednesday morning, more than 81,000 investors held Aurora
Cannabis shares through Robinhood, the brokerage’s website shows,
making it the 16th most-popular stock on the platform. Other
cannabis companies like Cronos Group and Tilray are also on the
most-popular list, and don’t appear to be experiencing similar
issues.

Aurora shares were
briefly halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange Tuesday,
following an inquiry by the Investment Industry Regulatory
Organization of Canada into reports that the company was in talks with Coca-Cola to
produce a CBD-infused beverage. Those reports sent the
stock soaring by more than 20% on Monday.

“The Company does confirm that it engages in exploratory
discussions with industry participants from time to time,” Aurora
said in response to the inquiry. “At this time the Company
confirms there is no agreement, understanding or arrangement with
respect to any partnership with a beverage company.”

Aurora did not respond to a request for comment about Wednesday’s
trading issues.

It’s not unheard of for Robinhood to restrict trading to protect
its users from fraud and manipulation. Last month the company

restricted trading of MoviePass’ parent company Helios &
Matheson to protect customers “from the risks associated with
some low-priced stocks.”

Aurora Cannabis shares are up more than 300% in the past year.

Markets
Insider