The Barrel's Bottom Composite

The Barrel's Bottom NEX Composite index is created for this blog to track the overall progress of the NEX. The last trade of each NEX share is multiplied by the total number of free shares outstanding, and then they're totaled to give a market cap for the NEX as a whole. It's then divided by a number that makes the first tracked time period for the day it's unveiled equal to 100.00

So, the first value for the Barrel's Bottom NEX Composite will be that same 100.00. The divisor will be adjusted for splits, consolidations, changes in the number of tradeable shares outstanding, new listings or delistings. The goal is to keep the index stay the same, with same share prices, regardless of how the share compositions change.

I haven't bothered with calculations of the "theoretical high" or the "theoretical low" because they both break simultaneity. Any highs and lows quoted will be the result of interday measurements done at the same time.


NOTE: I am not affiliated with the TSX, nor is this blog. The Barrel's Bottom Composite index is not endorsed by the TSX.

What Is The NEX, And Why Care?

The NEX is the place where companies who can't meet the listing requirements for a Tier-2 listing on the TSX Venture Exchange are sent to. A company can't qualify for a NEX listing unless it's been booted off the Venture. This exchange is truly the bottom of the barrel for Canadian listed companies.

There are 157 companies listed on the NEX, and about a quarter of them are under suspension. Many of the shares don't trade at all during the day. It's not uncommon for a listed company to have a total market cap (minus escrowed shares) of less than $1 million. There are a few companies whose market cap is about the price of a not-very-expensive city house. An eye-popping trade is one where $10,000 worth of stock has changed hands.

So why care?

Because a NEX company that moves is one that sticks right out of the pack. So, there's something to watch when a NEX-listed company has an active trading pattern. There's also the faint hope that one of them may crawl back up to a Venture listing.

Besides: where else can you see a stock whose daily trading volume times the trade price is less than the cheapest discount brokerage's minimum commission?

The following link will take you to the TSX Nex Home Page.


NOTE: I am not affiliated with the TSX, nor is this blog.