Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest made a savvy move just before the market rebounded—loading up on Coinbase (COIN) shares in the days leading up to a sharp rally.
Across a three-day buying spree that ended Tuesday, Ark Invest added nearly 200,000 shares of Coinbase to its ETF portfolios, amounting to roughly $31 million based on that day’s closing price. This well-timed investment came just before markets rebounded on Wednesday after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on many of his previously proposed trade tariffs, which had initially rattled investors.
The buying was spread across Ark’s key funds: the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), the Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and the Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). On April 4 and April 7, Ark added 83,157 and 84,514 shares respectively, with another 31,730 shares picked up on Tuesday, April 9.
With these recent purchases, Ark Invest now holds a total of 3,071,038 Coinbase shares—valued at approximately $550 million based on COIN’s current price of just under $180 per share.
Ark has consistently maintained a strong position in Coinbase, being one of its largest institutional shareholders. While the firm did sell off parts of its COIN stake earlier—offloading around $4 million in late 2024 and a significant $52 million batch earlier in the year—its pattern of buying and selling aligns with its regular rebalancing strategy.
Despite COIN being down around 28% year-to-date, some analysts remain bullish. A recent report from Cantor Fitzgerald labeled Coinbase stock as “overlooked” by the broader market. The analysis pointed to Coinbase’s connections with stablecoin issuer Circle and USDC, as well as its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, Base, as reasons for long-term confidence. The report gave Coinbase an “Overweight” rating with a $245 price target—suggesting a potential 36% upside from current levels.
For Cathie Wood and Ark Invest, these recent moves may prove to be more than just routine rebalancing—they might just be another example of Wood’s forward-looking, risk-tolerant strategy paying off.