Amid the growth of the marijuana sector, the Canadian stock exchanges are planning a lottery for companies that would like to use the stock symbol “POT,” which is currently not assigned.
In guidance issued today by the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the exchange, along with the TSX Venture Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange and Aequitas NEO Exchange, said that they have collectively decided to hold a lottery for the POT symbol, which will become available on Feb. 1.
“In response to significant interest from issuers listed on, and applicants to, each of the exchanges,” the TSX states in the guidance, “the exchanges have jointly determined to allocate the ‘POT’ stock symbol by way of a collective lottery process, notwithstanding the symbol reservation procedures of each exchange.”
The “POT” symbol will be assigned to the winner of a random lottery on Jan. 30. The winner will then have 90 days to adopt the symbol. If the switch doesn’t happen within the 90 days, the exchanges will hold another lottery.
The lottery process is open to listed issuers and companies that have applied for listing. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) and issuers that do not have an active operating business are not eligible.