With the market’s anticipation for a Bitcoin spot ETF, related concept stocks such as MicroStrategy and Coinbase have performed well in the past six months. However, Ark Invest has recently been selling Coinbase stocks frequently, with the latest data showing that they reduced their holdings by 166,183 shares yesterday, worth approximately $25.3 million.
(Previous summary:
Bitcoin spot ETF “amendment application” approaching deadline! Ark Invest and 21Shares have not yet indicated underwriters.)
(Background supplement:
Queen of Stocks liquidates GBTC holdings, funds transferred to BITO becoming the second-largest holder.)
Table of Contents:
Sold over $63 million worth of COIN in five days
COIN remains the largest holding
Clearing out GBTC
With high expectations for a Bitcoin spot ETF in the market, which is expected to further drive up the price of Bitcoin, related concept stocks such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase (COIN), have shown impressive performance in the past six months, rising by 66.9% and 94.31% respectively. Against this backdrop, Ark Invest, led by the Queen of Stocks, Cathie Wood, has been adjusting its investment portfolio frequently.
According to the latest data from Ark Invest Daily, on January 3rd, Ark Invest sold a total of 166,183 shares of Coinbase stock, with a total value of approximately $25.3 million based on the closing price of that day. Among them, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) reduced its holdings by 145,048 shares, while the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) reduced its holdings by 21,135 shares.
In addition, according to data from the Ark.alien website, Ark Invest also actively sold COIN stocks in December. In addition to ARKK and ARKW, its funds also include the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). These funds sold a total of 425,361 shares of COIN stock in the past five days (from December 27th to January 3rd), while only increasing their holdings by 29,181 shares, resulting in a net reduction of 396,180 shares. Based on the average stock price during these five days, which was approximately $160, the total value of the reduction reached approximately $63.388 million.
Source: https://ark.alien-tomato.com/
However, despite Ark Invest’s recent significant reduction in COIN holdings, according to official fund holdings data, COIN still holds the largest weight in the ARKK, ARKF, and ARKW funds, accounting for 10.37%, 13.44%, and 10.63% respectively. This indicates that despite recent adjustments, Coinbase remains a favorable target for Ark Invest.
Ark Invest itself has also applied for a Bitcoin spot ETF (ARKB) in collaboration with 21Shares. Last week on the 28th, Ark Invest cleared out all remaining GBTC holdings (approximately 2.25 million shares) in the ARKW fund and used a large amount of funds to purchase BITO (Bitcoin futures ETF), making Ark Invest the second-largest holder of BITO.
At the time, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated, “This suggests that Ark Invest’s move may be in preparation for the launch of their own Bitcoin spot ETF (ARKB).”
In addition, analysis by Phyrex pointed out that Ark Invest’s significant purchase of BITO (the first long futures in the U.S.) indicates their expectation of a significant rise in BTC, reflecting their optimism for the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF. Furthermore, choosing to sell GBTC is because compared to holding futures, the upside potential of GBTC after the approval of a spot ETF has significantly decreased. After all, according to data from Coinglass, GBTC’s negative premium rate has decreased to less than 9%.
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