US cannabis stocks are trading on Robinhood. What does it mean?

Stocks in plant-touching cannabis multistate operators began trading on the brokerage app Robinhood, about a month after federal medical marijuana rescheduling, company executives said Friday.

Green Thumb Industries appeared to be the first cannabis MSO to the punch, according to a post on X from company founder and CEO Ben Kovler.

“ICYMI: Green Thumb is now available to trade on Robinhood,” Kovler posted Friday morning. “Who’s gonna post the first confirm?”

Which cannabis MSOs are now trading on Robinhood?

It wasn’t immediately clear what led Robinhood to start allowing users to trade the MSOs’ stocks. A spokesperson for Green Thumb did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Other MSOs followed suit.

“Excited to see you can now buy $CURLF on Robinhood,” posted Boris Jordan, Curaleaf Holdings’ founder, chairman and CEO about an hour after Kovler.

“Thanks to the @RobinhoodApp team for adding Curaleaf to their platform and helping expand access for US investors,” Jordan added. “Another step forward with more to come…”

Industry observers were receptive but cautious on Friday.

“It’s a positive development, but probably not a game-changer by itself,” Hirsh Jain, the principal of cannabis consultancy Ananda Strategy, told MJBizDaily.

“Making it easier for retail investors to buy MSO stocks through platforms like Robinhood should help liquidity and broaden the shareholder base a bit, but most retail investors who really wanted exposure already had ways to get it,” he said.

However, Jain added, many large institutional investors “still can’t or won’t own U.S. cannabis operators because of federal illegality, custody restrictions and exchange listing restrictions.”

“While rescheduling may start to change this, we are likely several months away from that process being finalized.”

When did cannabis stocks start trading on Robinhood?

The addition of GTI, Curaleaf and Trulieve Cannabis Corp. to Robinhood follows California-based vertically integrated operator Glass House Brands’ listing on Robinhood in October of last year.

Glass House was the first “US plant touching cannabis company” on the app, company Chairman and CEO Kyle Kazan posted at the time.

The companies have been listed on Robinhood for some time but as “non-tradeable tickers,” meaning users could see the prices but could not place orders, as Cannabis Risk Manager reported last year.

Friday’s development also comes as Curaleaf prepares to list on U.S.-based exchanges.

The company earlier this week announced a 1-for-3 reverse stock split that could help convince major exchanges like the Nasdaq list to list it if “ongoing regulatory developments” allow.

When will cannabis stocks start trading on Nasdaq and NYSE?

While the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have long listed ancillary companies like real estate investment trusts and Canadian licensed producers, both have been loath to list companies that operate in the U.S.

As law firm Foley Hoag pointed out in a blog post Thursday, Nasdaq has long maintained it “cannot initially list or continue the listing of a company whose current or planned activities are in violation of U.S. federal law or the law in a jurisdiction where the company operates.”

However, the atmosphere appears to be changing as a result of the Trump administration’s April final order reclassifying medical cannabis as a Schedule 3 drug. Hearings before a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge, scheduled to begin June 29, could lead to more movement.

“Depending on how these proceedings resolve, the regulatory picture could look materially different within the next twelve months,” Foley Hoag partners Ryan Rourke Reed and Stacie Aarestad wrote Thursday.

Uplisting to NYSE and Nasdaq would be “transformative event for the industry,” they added.

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.