First U.S. Marijuana ETF Celebrates One Month of Trading

Last week, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSEArca: MJ) celebrated one month of trading and changed its ticker to “MJ.”

“Since its first day of trading on December 26, 2017, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF has seen rapid market adoption and strong asset growth. Just 30 days after the fund began trading the AUM grew from $5.7 Million to $417 Million,” according to a statement from New Jersey-based ETFMG.

Potential investors should be aware that while MJ’s underlying index may cover businesses that are legally engaged in activities related to cannabis, the benchmark does not include those that directly cultivate, produce or distribute marijuana or products derived from marijuana, unless such activities become legal under U.S. federal and state laws.

The ETF slid 10% last week and is now lower by 3% year-to-date.

“There continues to be overwhelming medical breakthroughs from the cannabis pharmaceutical world. Various forms of medicinal cannabis products are currently used to treat illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis, HIV, Parkinson’s Disease, Glaucoma, and Cancer. GW Pharmaceuticals, a portfolio company within MJ, has the leading treatment for children’s epileptic seizures derived from the cannabis plan,” according to ETMG.

MJ launched just days before California opened stores for legal sales of recreational marijuana. Recreational marijuana use was legal in the largest state throughout 2017, but the opening of retail outlets dedicated to legal weed sales was prohibited until the start of 2018. Previously, MJX was structured as a Latin America real estate ETF.

“In the first 30 days of trading the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF enjoyed an average daily volume of approximately 2.1 million shares. Given the growing acceptance of marijuana, especially on the medicinal front, it stands to reason that this is just the beginning for the first and only US based ETF product to give investors direct access to the marijuana industry,” according to the issuer.

For more information on new fund products, visit our new ETFs category.

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