Cathie Woods’ Ark Invest ignores market downturn, adds $13.3M to Coinbase position

While global markets tumbled at the start of the week, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest went against the grain by acquiring more shares across two of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, signaling continued confidence in high-growth tech and crypto-linked companies.

The investment firm purchased $13.3 million worth of Coinbase Global Inc. shares, with one of its funds, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), acquiring 64,806 Coinbase shares, which was worth about $10.2 million as of trade closing. The other fund, the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), bought 19,708 Coinbase shares worth about $3.1 million. 

This reportedly brings Ark Invest’s total spending on Coinbase’s stocks to $26.6 million since President Donald Trump announced a new set of retaliatory tariffs on April 2, which saw the market lose trillions of dollars.

Ark Invest’s Bitcoin ETF sell-off

Despite its investment in Coinbase stocks, the investment firm sold about $12.4 million worth of ARK21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), making it one of the largest daily sales by ARKB. The ARKB is one of the spot bitcoin ETFs that was launched in the US in January 2024.

The recent dump of its Bitcoin ETFs isn’t the first in recent times, as ARKB sold about $8 million in March, following $8.6 million in sales in February and some sales worth $3.5 million in January.

Ark continues to maintain indirect exposure to Bitcoin through ARKW, whose largest position is in ARK Bitcoin ETF Holdco. As of April 8, ARKW held over $141 million worth of ARKB, representing 11.20% of the fund’s total weight. Coinbase stocks account for 6.62% of the ARKW fund, making it ARKW’s third-largest holding, trailing only Tesla at 8.28% and ARK Bitcoin ETF Holdco (ARKB). 

Coinbase shares on Monday closed down at $157.28. However, after trading hours, it rose up by 2.68% to $161.5. 

Investing amid chaos

While Ark Invest was making aggressive purchases, the global market was in shambles, with Asian stocks seeing their worst day in decades. The Japanese Nikkei 225 lost 7.8%, while the Shangai composite closed at 7.3% down. The US market wasn’t as bad as the Asian market despite its losses, as the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped by 0.91%, S&P 500 fell by 0.23. Nasdaq composite worked the opposite by adding 0.10%.

The crypto market performed very poorly, with Bitcoin hitting a new low in recent times. It fell to $74,300 on Monday, April 7. However, the leading cryptocurrency gained today and went over $80,000 on Tuesday, April 8, as of publication time.

Cathie Wood’s investment management firm’s recent strides go beyond crypto as they acquired 54,120 shares of Amazon stock worth an estimated $9.25 million. The Amazon market has been down due to the retaliatory and counter-retaliatory tariffs between the US and China. Amazon closed 4.15% down at $171. 

ARK Invest also invested in more select stocks such as Crispr Therapeutics and Beam Therapeutics. 

However, Ark Invest wasn’t in the market alone to buy as it also sold Roblox, UiPath, MercadoLibre, and Repare Therapeutics stocks.

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