Ark Invest buys $8 million of Coinbase shares, again sells similar amount of own Bitcoin ETF amid Trump slump

Ark Invest bought 38,865 Coinbase shares, worth $8 million, for its Next Generation Internet exchange-traded fund (ARKW) on Monday and offloaded $8.2 million worth of its own spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) as the crypto market fully retraced the crypto reserve-fueled weekend Trump pump amid fresh concerns over tariffs.

The Cathie Wood-led investment firm's latest rebalancing comes just a week after it bought $8.7 million worth of COIN for the first time since October and sold $8.6 million worth of ARKB for the first time since September.

Ark’s investment strategy aims to let no individual holding take up more than 10% of a fund's portfolio. This is to maintain diversification within its funds — meaning Ark is likely to continue rebalancing its weightings if the value of Coinbase shares rises or falls significantly relative to Ark's other holdings in its funds.

According to the firm’s disclosures, COIN is currently the sixth-largest holding within its ARKW fund, with a weighting of 6%, worth around $99.1 million, as of March 3. Coinbase is presently valued at $38.3 billion, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

Coinbase shares closed down 4.6% on Monday at $205.75, now losing nearly 20% year-to-date, according to The Block's Coinbase page . COIN is currently down 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, per TradingView.

ARKB remains top allocation

ARKB remains the top allocation within Ark Invest's Next Generation Internet fund, with a weighting of 10.3%, valued at approximately $169.8 million. Tesla, Roku, Roblox and Robinhood make up the remainder of ARKW's top five positions.

Ark's spot Bitcoin ETF has generated $2.8 billion in net inflows since launching in January 2024, with $3.2 billion in assets under management, according to The Block's ARKB Tracker page .

Despite Ark Invest's offloading, ARKB was the only U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF to attract net inflows on Monday overall, adding $58.2 million. BlackRock's IBIT and Grayscale's GBTC saw $78 million and $54.4 million exit their funds, respectively, taking total net outflows to $74.2 million for the day.

Trump pump and slump

Prices surged back from Friday's lows after President Trump directed a working group to "move forward" on a U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve on Sunday, including BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA — with those assets rising 10%, 15%, 25%, 30% and 70%, respectively.

However, after opening up the largest ever CME gap coming into the traditional finance working week, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies subsequently retraced the entire move on Monday as President Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would come into effect on Tuesday, while tariffs on China will double to 20%.

"Trump's ongoing tough talk and actions on tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China further fueled risk-off sentiment," Presto Head of Research Peter Chung said.

The GMCI 30 index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, fell 11% over the past day to 143.16.

"This market behavior highlights that while announcements like Trump's strategic reserve can spark short-term excitement, the lack of clarity and follow-through can lead to rapid corrections," Derive Head of Research Sean Dawson told The Block. "Volatility will likely remain high as traders navigate the uncertain year ahead."

21Shares Crypto Research Strategist Matt Mena suggested the market reaction reflects renewed fears of inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty but argued that the selloff was an overreaction. "Many investors had anticipated these moves, and as futures markets adjust overnight, we could see stabilization when trading resumes tomorrow. When the market opens tomorrow, we'll likely see this stabilize as the futures market corrects for this tonight," he said.