ARK ETFs Surged Last Week: Here's Why

Cathie Wood’s ARK innovations have again started to glow. Last week, most of ARK ETFs, including ARK Innovation ETF ARKK, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF surged about 8%.

Cathie Wood's flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) has faced challenges in recent years. After a sharp decline in 2021-2022, ARKK continued to underperform the S&P 500 in the following two years, as Wood largely missed the significant gains driven by NVIDIA NVDA and the broader artificial intelligence boom.

However, since last October, and particularly from early April, Cathie Wood's stocks have surged, with ARKK reaching a three-year high. While Tesla TSLA, ARKK’s largest holding and the top Cathie Wood stock across her ETFs, has struggled in 2025 overall, it has delivered strong gains in the second quarter.

The standout performers among ARKK’s top holdings, however, have been Palantir Technologies PLTR, Coinbase COIN and Roblox RBLX. In fact, Coinbase drove ARK ETFs’ last week’s performance. Let’s dig deeper.

Inside the Surge in Coinbase Shares

Coinbase shares surged about 30% last week. Each of the above-mentioned ETFs invests about 8% of their baskets in COIN shares. Coinbase Global relies heavily on trading volumes as a core driver of revenues and a key indicator of its long-term business trajectory. This crypto leader generates the bulk of its revenues through transaction fees from both retail and institutional customers.

On June 18, shares surged 16.3% after the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced plans to enter the stablecoin market. This breakout pushed the stock well above a 277.01 buy point from a deep base. By the end of the week, shares had gained 29.9%. Coinbase also maintains strong ties with Circle, another prominent company backed by Cathie Wood, as quoted on investors.com.

Tesla Gained Last Week on Robotaxi Launch Optimism

Another ARK ETFs’ important holding Tesla added more than 2% last week on Robotaxi launch optimism. Tesla has started testing robotaxis with passengers in Austin, TX, CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday, with customers paying a flat fee of $4.20. The electric vehicle manufacturer aims to establish a strong position in the competitive self-driving technology market.

Inside Gains in Roblox

Roblox shares jumped about 8.8% last week. The stock (up 73.5%) breezed past the S&P 500 this year. Shares of the video game platform surged alongside the broader market in early April and continued to climb after the release of its Q1 earnings report in early May.

Note that in early May, Roblox came up with a quarterly loss of $0.32 per share, which bettered the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.41. The figure was also better than the loss of $0.43 per share recorded a year ago. The company posted revenues of $1.21 billion in Q1, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.35%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $923.76 million.

Bottom Line

Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs rebounded sharply last week, thanks mainly to a 30% surge in Coinbase shares following its entry into the stablecoin market. Additional boosts came from gains in key holdings like Tesla, on robotaxi optimism, and Roblox’s continued winning momentum, following strong Q1 results in early May. The recent momentum in ARK ETFs signals a potential turnaround for ARK’s innovation-driven strategy.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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