If You Invested $1,000 In The Coinbase IPO, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc COIN had one of the biggest public listings of all time when it went public via direct listing in April 2021. Here’s a look back at how shares have done since the Coinbase IPO.

What Happened: Coinbase went public on April 14, 2021. The company chose a direct listing and went public at a time when it saw massive growth and the cryptocurrency market was booming.

Many analysts believed in a long-term success story for Coinbase. CNBC host Jim Cramer famously said he liked Coinbase to $475 in a tweet on the day of the company’s debut.

Ark Funds CEO Cathie Wood is a bull on the cryptocurrency platform and has been actively adding shares to several of the company’s ETFs. Coinbase is the 10th-largest holding at 3.8% of assets in the flagship Ark Innovation ETF ARKK. The stock is also the sixth-largest and fourth-largest holding in the Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARCA:  ARKW) and the Ark Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF, respectively.

Coinbase shares have fallen in 2022 and hit new lows this week as the company reported first-quarter financial results. Coinbase reported revenue of $1.17 billion in the first quarter, which missed Street estimates. The company also reported a loss of $1.98 per share in the quarter, compared to positive earnings per share of $3.05 in the same quarter last year.

The company ended the first quarter with 9.2 million monthly transacting users, up from 6.1 million in the comparable quarter last year. Guidance from the company calls for a lower user figure in the second quarter along with lower total trading volume.

Coinbase believes the current crypto market is seeing a temporary drop and the company is focused on the long-term.

Related Link: Coinbase IPO: 7 Key Takeaways Investors Should Know 

Investing $1,000 In Coinbase IPO: Coinbase went public via a direct listing on April 14, 2021. This meant that investors had to wait until shares opened for trading before they could buy in, whereas a traditional IPO sometimes allows retail investors a small allocation of shares at a set price.

The reference price for Coinbase shares was $250, but shares opened significantly higher at $381. Shares would trade over $425 in their first day of trading before closing at $328.28.

A $1,000 investment could have bought 2.62 shares of Coinbase stock at the opening price of $381. The 2.62 shares would be worth $148.76 today, representing a loss of 85.1% over the last 13 months.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY, which is a common gauge of the market, is down 6.3% over the same time period, faring significantly better than the Coinbase IPO.