Because of their binary nature, MTJs are used in memory cells to store digital data, with the low resistance state R_P corresponding to a first data state (e.g., logical “0”), and the high-resistance state R_AP corresponding to a second data state (e.g., logical “1”). To read data from such an MTJ memory cell, the MTJ's resistance R_MTJ (which can vary between R_P and R_AP, depending on the data state that is stored) can be compared to a reference cell's resistance, R_Ref (where R_Ref, for example, is designed to be in between R_P and R_AP, for instance, an average). In some techniques, a given read voltage V_Read is applied to the MTJ memory cell and the reference cell. This read voltage results in a read current flowing through the MTJ (I_MTJ) and a reference current flowing through the reference cell (I_Ref). If the MTJ is in a parallel state, the read current I_MTJ has a first value (I_MTJ-P) greater than I_Ref; while if the MTJ is in an anti-parallel state, the read current I_MTJ has a second value (I_MTJ-AP) that is less than I_Ref. Thus, during a read operation, if I_MTJ is greater than I_Ref, then a first digital value (e.g., “0”) is read from the MTJ cell. On the other hand, if I_MTJ is less than I_Ref for the read operation, then a second digital value (e.g., “1”) is read from the MTJ cell.