MPX Bioceutical Corp (CSE:MPX, OTCMKTS:MPXEF) announced Wednesday that shares of the Canadian medical marijuana company have moved to the OTCQX market.

Stocks that trade on the OTCQX meet more stringent qualification criteria compared to other over-the-counter stocks that trade in the OTCQB Venture and more speculative Pink Sheets.  

“Over the past year MPX experienced significant operational changes and reached many corporate milestones, growing its Arizona footprint, acquiring cultivation, production and kitchen facilities in Nevada, opening its first cannabis dispensary in Maryland and expanding into Canada,” MPX Bioceutical CEO W Scott Boyes said in a statement.

There may be no other sector with higher investor interest than cannabis.

Once a batch of small, highly risky stocks that traded on obscure exchanges, cannabis shares are reaching a new level of maturity. The first wave of publicly traded marijuana companies found a home on the Toronto Stock Exchange and other Canadian markets, since the United States’ federal drug laws had mostly dissuaded companies from listing on that country’s stock exchanges. That’s changing, owing to the success of Tilray Inc., a B.C. cannabis company that went directly to the Nasdaq stock exchange and saw it shares zoom from US$17 to a high of US$300 in a wild first few months of trading.

Canadian marijuana giant Aurora Cannabis has filed an application to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, a move that would make it the second major plant-touching company to trade on the Big Board – and the latest from Canada to establish roots on Wall Street.

If approved, the Edmonton-based company could begin trading on the NYSE before the end of the month, Aurora announced in a news release. Aurora would join Canopy Growth, which began trading on the Big Board in May.

Walmart Inc.’s Canadian arm has been investigating the possibility of selling cannabis-based products but doesn’t intend to get into the much-hyped business yet.

“As we would for any new industry, Walmart Canada has done some preliminary fact-finding on this issue, but we do not have plans to carry CBD products at this time,” spokeswoman Diane Medeiros said in an email, referring to cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis plants.

Interest in CBD has been booming as Canada prepares to legalize recreational marijuana next week and several large alcohol and consumer products companies have indicated they’re studying CBD’s commercial possibilities.

“I’ve been communicating this (to the provincial regulators) for several months now leading up to Oct. 17. I’ve said all along that if you want X kilos from Aphria, I cannot make that promise until the spring of 2019, so here’s what we can deliver,” Aphria chief executive Vic Neufeld told the Financial Post.

Aphria has supply agreements with all 10 provinces and Yukon. In a Sept. 20 press release, the Leamington Ont.-based producer said that it had “begun shipping initial product orders” to ensure that an “extensive range of products will be available to consumers on Oct. 17.”

Investors who've shied away from cannabis out of concern about whether legalization will be good for Canada should consider buying in to help shape the industry and how it operates, say experts in so-called impact investing.

While there's been no shortage of excitement around pot stocks as the legalization of recreational cannabis use approaches on Oct. 17, uncertainty around issues such as the legal implications around crossing the U.S. border have kept major players out of the game, said Vinay Shandal, managing director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Toronto.

Today we have identified three Canadian marijuana stocks that have recently received a license to sell cannabis-based products in Canada.

This positions these small-cap companies to produce and sell their product just in time for recreational legalization in Canada, scheduled for October 17, 2018.

Although there is a long list of Canadian companies involved in the cannabis business, the number of companies with a sales license is much smaller, and so these companies have a significant advantage once recreational consumption becomes legal.

Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) (OTCQB:ACBFF) (FRA:21P) and Canadian cannabis stocks enter the new trading week with moderate momentum in-hand. The former’s case is catalyst-specific, while the sector is demonstrating tangible basing action from contracting prices beginning late September. We look into the trading week to be, along with key technical level on select cannabis stocks.

Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) stock jumped 12.6% in September, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

This gain, however, has been erased in the past week, as shares of the Canadian marijuana grower lost 12.1% in the first week of October.

This isn't surprising, as marijuana stocks are extremely volatile.

Cronos stock is up 26.4% in 2018 through Oct. 5, versus the S&P 500's 9.5% return.

Over the past year, the stock is up a whopping 307%, versus the broader market's 15.3% return.

The launch of the Canadian recreational marijuana market is nearly upon us. Investors who have watched the emergence of the industry over the past three years are wondering which cannabis stocksmight be best positioned to capitalize on the opportunities that extend beyond smokers.