Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, tends to trim positions after big runs and add on pullbacks, a strategy she applies not only to smaller bets but also to her top holdings.
Last week, Wood unloaded some Tesla shares, securing $40 million in gains. She recently did some notable buying of another top holding of Ark that’s been struggling.
Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. Year to date, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 39.39% as of Dec. 19, far outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 16.2% in the same period.
Wood’s style brings sweet wins in rising markets but also painful losses in bearish ones, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.
Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term results. As of Dec. 18, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -8.72%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 14.48% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.
Wood’s strategy is simple: her Ark ETFs focus on emerging high-tech companies in areas like artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics.
Wood views these businesses as potential forces for big changes and long-term growth, though their volatility often brings fluctuations to the Ark’s funds.
Related: Cathie Wood’s net worth: The Ark Invest CEO’s wealth & income
From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to Morningstar analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s ranking.
In October, Wood said in a CNBC interview that she expects to see a market “shudder” as interest rates begin to rise.
Still, Wood believes in the potential of AI, denying the “AI bubble” talk amid concerns about the high valuations of tech stocks.
“I do not believe AI is in a bubble,” Wood said. “ What I do think is, on the enterprise side, it is going to take a while for large corporations to prepare themselves to transform…in order to really capitalize on the productivity gains that we think are going to be unleashed by AI.”
Not all investors agree with Wood. In the 12 months through Dec. 18, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.28 billion in net outflows, according to ETF research firm VettaFi.
On Dec. 15, 17, and 18, Wood’s Ark funds bought 106,530 shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN), valued at about $26.1 million.
The purchases extend a gradual build that began in mid-November.
Earlier this year, Wood bought roughly 34,500 Coinbase shares during the first quarter, then sold roughly 446,000 shares and another 228,000 in the following two quarters, according to Stockcircle’s data.
In 2024, Wood unloaded a total of about 5.5 million Coinbase shares across the year, making it a full year of net selling.
Despite those selling, Coinbase is Wood’s fourth-largest holding of the Ark Innovation ETF.
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Tesla (TSLA) 12.32%
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Roku (ROKU) 5.89%
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CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) 5.47%
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Coinbase Global (COIN) 5.28%
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Shopify (SHOP) 5.27%
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Robinhood Markets (HOOD) 4.48%
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Tempus AI (TEM) 4.44%
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Roblox (RBLX) 3.54%
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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 3.22%
Coinbase runs the biggest crypto exchange in the U.S. and generates revenue through transaction fees from cryptocurrency trading on its platform.
Coinbase’s stock price is closely tied to the price of Bitcoin. When Bitcoin rises, trading activity usually picks up, which helps Coinbase through higher transaction revenue and better sentiment toward crypto stocks. When it falls, trading slows and Coinbase shares could face pressure.
Year to date, Coinbase stock is down 3%, while Bitcoin lost 5.6%, significantly underperforming the S&P 500 index, which gained more than 16% over the same period.
On Dec. 17, Coinbase announced that it will roll out stock trading to U.S. users, allowing customers to trade stocks and ETFs alongside crypto within the same app, which reduces its reliance on crypto trading and positions it as a direct rival to brokerages such as Robinhood (HOOD).
Cantor Fitzgerald lowered its price target on Coinbase to $320 from $459 while keeping an overweight rating following the announcement, Thefly reported.
The firm said Coinbase’s update highlighted its push to become an “everything exchange,” which is strategically positive. But near-term revenue and profitability estimates are being lowered due to recent crypto sentiment declines.
The firm also warned that the 2026 consensus assumption for 14% trading volume growth could be overly optimistic if the market enters another crypto winter.
On Bitcoin, Wood says Bitcoin’s four-year cycle, which means mining rewards are cut roughly every four years, may no longer be effective, and we may have already seen the lowest point of this cycle.
“The volatility’s going down,” she said on Fox Business on Dec. 9, adding that institutions “are going to prevent much more of a decline” and that “we may have seen the low a couple of weeks ago.”
Wood also argues that the market’s behavior has shifted, as Bitcoin trades more like a risk-on asset, moving in line with equities and real estate rather than acting as a hedge.
“Now, gold is more of a risk-off asset,” she said.
Related: Cathie Wood sells $40 million of megacap tech stock
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.