are you looking to buy an ipo with sofi active invest you can participate in upcoming ipos before they trade on an exchange if there’s any example of a fullcircle investment in today’s financial ecosystem it would have to be the cannabis sector currently the otherwise divisive political landscape has largely reached consensus to relax restrictions on the muchmaligned plant during president biden’s campaign in 2020 he pledged to decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge prior convictions related to such consumption although championed as a progressive move cannabis actually has a long and storied history in america according to pbs frontline the thencolony of the british empire produced high volumes of hemp with the commodity exchanged as legal tender in pennsylvania virginia and maryland in the early 1600s only until the ugly politics of immigration entered the picture did the us government crack down on the plant today the tolerant environment allows companies like clover leaf capital corp a special purpose acquisition company spac seeking to merge with a cannabisrelated enterprise to flourish thereby expanding opportunities for retail investors on april 7 2021 clover leaf capital filed its intentions to raise 125 million via an initial public offering ipo with the securities and exchange commission backed by privately held yntegra group clover leaf announced that while it gave itself the flexibility to pursue any viable business combination it specifically intended to focus on the legal cannabis market at the proposed capital raise the spac would command a market value of 158 million later on july 19 clover priced its ipo which involved the sale of 125 million shares at 10 per unit maxim group llc provided the sole bookrunning management services for the offering shares began trading on the nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol cloe beginning sept 9 holders of cloe stock which were purchased in the ipo can elect to separately trade the shares of the common stock and the rights included in the units the reason why clover appears on the ipo calendar on this date unlike a traditional public market offering a spacbased ipo does not represent a capital raise for a particular enterprise in fact a spac has no underlying operations which is why analysts refer to such entities as blankcheck firms or shell companies rather a spac’s only goal is to identify a promising private firm once shareholders approve of the business combination the spac merges with the target making the latter a public entity by default it helps to view spac mergers as a symbiotic relationship the merger candidate brings the business to the table while the shell company provides access to the capital market therefore financial journalists often refer to these arrangements as reverse mergers on paper a spac ipo opens many doors for retail investors under a traditional new offering paradigm underwriters usually only provide access to shares at their initial price to their choicest clients such as mutual funds this circumstance forces public buyers to wait for new issues to be released at the open market which may arrive at a pricing disadvantage with spacs retail buyers can acquire shares at any phase from premergerannouncement to postcombination still spacs following their mergers have not performed well this year because of dilutive pressures thus riskmitigation measures and due diligence are key to succeeding in this spac bull market thanks to the agriculture improvement act of 2018 an initiative which both democrats and republicans supported hempbased products including cannabidiol cbd enjoyed legal status a huge victory for proponents of adult liberties at the same time some confusion exists regarding the concept of marijuana legalization although the above act best known colloquially as the farm bill legalizes some forms of cannabisbased products it does not actually legalize cannabis hemp or cbd products benefit from their newfound status as noncontrolled substances because per guidance from the food and drug administration they contain less than 03 delta9tetrahydrocannabinol thc content of course thc is the psychoactive compound in “fullpowered” cannabis which is at the heart of a wider political argument for now hemp or cbd products offer tremendous revenuegenerating opportunities for cloe investors according to a study by graphical research the north american cbd market could surpass 612 billion by 2027 much of this sector upside stems from product category diversity which include segments like vaping oils tinctures transdermal patches supplemental tablets creams edibles and infused beverages among many others typically people view the cannabis sector in a negative light however with hemp and cbd products only containing a trace amount of thc users can enjoy the possible health benefits of these botanical compounds without incurring a psychoactive effect moreover the product diversity allows cannabis advocates to effectively evangelize the industry for instance attempting to get someone to smoke cbd products would not nearly be as effective offering the same person cbdinfused gummy bears or beverages therefore clover leaf can pursue multiple candidate enterprises without an overly high risk of offending public sensibilities admittedly the cannabis sector has been incredibly volatile despite the transformative nature of the underlying industry due to favorable legislation the us hemp and cbd market represents the conversion of an illicit retail segment to a fully legal and taxable one nevertheless several publicly traded cannabis producers have generated lessthanstellar returns but if clover leaf succeeds in its stated directive investors may have a betterthanaverage chance of profitability with cloe stock because management seeks “providers of ancillary services” rather than “directly plant touching businesses” clover leaf can explore several opportunities including cultivation processing testing and consumer goods technologies more critically by providing services to the cannabis sector rather than being involved in the actual production of hemp or cbd products investors of cloe stock can potentially gain exposure to the administration of the legal cannabis industry which is a highly soughtafter business segment primarily innovative industrial properties nyse iipr a realestate investment trust focused on the cannabis market but not on its production has been one of the best performers in the botanical segment generating a return of 1246 since its ipo it’s possible then that clover leaf could spark similar bullishness by following the same path although clover leaf brings an attractive narrative to prospective speculators you must be aware that as a whole spacbased business combinations have not performed well this year after peaking in midfebruary 2021 spacs have been disappointing with these blankcheck firms generally underperforming major market indices since april 12 simultaneously it’s unfair to state that spacs offer no opportunities for interested investors in fact plenty of reversemergers resulted in outstanding gains for stakeholders one of the main advantages of spacs is that they’re easy to acquire especially if you already know how to buy stocks if not follow the simple steps below any reputable brokerage will offer its members access to cloe stock therefore you’re free to narrow your list of best brokers to attributes that you care the most about such as interface intuitiveness or platform mobility step 2 decide how many shares you want whether you go with a traditional ipo or a spac merger new offerings represent risky territory therefore choose a balanced share count that facilitates upside rewards but also mitigates downside pressure before placing your bet familiarize yourself with these market concepts   bid the buyer’s best offer the bid is always lower than the ask   ask the seller’s bottomdollar price the ask is always higher than the bid   spread the bidask price difference the spread also indicates market liquidity and risk tighter spreads entail higher liquidity and lower risk due to robust volume while wider spreads indicate a lowvolume market implying higher risk   limit order trade requests at a specific price limit orders provide transparency but no execution guarantees   market order conversely market orders guarantee fulfillment but only at the prevailing rate which usually fluctuates   stoploss order a protective mechanism a stoploss order automatically exits your position at either a predetermined price or anything lower   stoplimit order stoplimit orders only execute at a specified price affording transparency in your automated exits however such orders carry the same nonfulfillment risk as limit orders   enter the shares you want to acquire or sell follow the same sequence for limit orders but include your execution price review the financial industry regulatory authority finra rules on restricted persons for questions about potential conflicts of interest in summary securities laws prevent investors from acting on privileged information if you want to build your repertoire of new public offerings you should consider opening an account with clickipo which buys select shares of companies with public market ambitions since these shares are priced at their initial offering rate regular investors enjoy the benefits of buying stock on the ground floor green in more ways than one according to an april 2021 pew research center report americans overwhelmingly support marijuana legalization in short the backdrop for cloe stock couldn’t be brighter however execution is vital as clover leaf’s management team must find the right business for the job