Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, made significant moves in the crypto and tech sectors amid a broader market sell-off. On Thursday, the firm purchased 17,806 shares of Coinbase, valued at $2.44 million, through its Ark Innovation ETF. Simultaneously, Ark reduced its holdings in Bullish and Bitmine, selling 109,522 shares of Bullish worth $2.27 million and 119,841 Bitmine shares worth $2.28 million via its ETFs.
The market rout erased post-election gains, with major U.S. technology stocks plummeting. The Nasdaq Composite index closed down 5.52%, marking its worst day since April 2025. The S&P 500 lost 4.36%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3.44%. Coinbase shares fell 9.69% to close at $136.82, while Bullish and Bitmine shares declined 10.46% and 12.56%, respectively.
AI-related equities were among the hardest hit, with Democrats' midterm election victory raising concerns about a potential slowdown in AI development. Nvidia shares dropped 9.26%, erasing their year-to-date gains. AMD plunged 17.26% but remained up 81% year-to-date. SpaceX shares fell 9%. Despite the sell-off, Ark Invest bought 252,592 Nvidia shares worth $45.9 million, 48,984 AMD shares worth $19.8 million, and 393,774 SpaceX shares worth $48.7 million.
The sell-off extended to Asian markets on Friday morning, with South Korea's Kospi down 3.6% and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 5.3%. In the crypto space, Bitcoin (BTC) traded down 5.8% over the past 24 hours at $75,908, while Ethereum (ETH) dropped 8.2% to $2,234.