Thomson Reuters People observe marijuana plants while visiting the "Expo Cannabis" forum in Montevideo
- 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.
