In early 2021, Ark Invest, led by tech investor Cathie Wood, managed a staggering $59 billion across six funds, making it the world's largest active ETF manager.
Three years later, a significant 80% downturn occurred, with assets under management in those funds plummeting to just $11.1 billion. This decline can be attributed to a combination of factors, including high interest rates dampening Wood's long-term speculative tech investments and the subsequent wave of outflows from disillusioned investors.
To give a sense of the scale, investors had withdrawn a substantial $2.24 billion from Wood's actively managed funds by the end of the third week of April 2024, nearly tripling the outflows seen throughout all of 2023.
Notably, Ark's flagship fund, the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK), experienced outflows exceeding $1.3 billion in less than four months this year, far surpassing the $578 million seen in 2023.
Below is a breakdown of the fund flows for Ark's actively managed ETFs in 2024 compared to 2023:
ARK Actively Managed ETFs | YTD 2024 Fund Flows
(as of Apr. 19) | 2023 Fund Flows |
|---|
Total | 2.24 B | 755.3 M |
ARK Innovation ETF | -1.37 B | -578.15 M |
ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE:ARKW) | -211.66 M | -63.93 M |
ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (BATS:ARKG) | -363.74 M | 40.41 M |
ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKF) | -144.93 M | -58.26 M |
ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (BATS:ARKQ) | -126.76 M | -53.14 M |
ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKX) | -21.97 M | -42.23 M |
Source: VettaFi
"The loyal shareholders have become frustrated," Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at data provider VettaFi, told The Wall Street Journal.
Despite the promising outlook for Ark's growth and disruptive technology investment style this year, Rosenbluth said heavy concentration of funds in underperforming companies remains a concern.
With the sole exception of Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) and Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD), none of the other top 10 holdings in the Ark innovation ETF have yielded positive returns in 2024.
Name | Weight | Return |
Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) | 9.38% | 35.60% |
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) | 9.32 | -41.76 |
Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) | 8.27 | -33.26 |
Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) | 6.98 | -4.80 |
UiPath Inc. (NYSE:PATH) | 5.69 | -21.46 |
CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CSRP) | 4.92 | -7.28 |
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM) | 4.50 | -15.59 |
Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX) | 4.47 | -19.14 |
Robinhood Markets, Inc. | 4.21 | 38.85 |
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) | 3.33 | -43.14 |
Data as of Apr. 23, 2024
Short Strategies On Cathie Wood's Ark Funds Emerge
The underperformance of Cathie Wood's actively managed funds has prompted other ETF issuers to undertake short strategies on Ark ETFs.
AXS Investments launched the AXS Short Innovation Daily ETF (NASDAQ:SARK) at the end of 2021, which shorts Wood's flagship ARKK fund and has seen a 40% increase since inception. During the same timeframe, the ARKK Innovation ETF were down by over 60%.
In May 2022, AXS Investments also launched the AXS 2X Innovation ETF (NASDAQ:TARK), which shorts ARKK with a leverage of 2x.
Chart: Shorting Cathie Wood's Flagship Fund Brings Robust Returns
Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments, highlighted on CNBC last month a spike in inflows affecting these two funds: "With thousands of startups and small high growth companies driving innovation having received financing from Silicon Valley Bank and others like it, this really could be a harbinger for concern around the ability of these kinds of innovation-driving companies to get financing going forward."
Seven days following the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank, the AXS Short Innovation Daily ETF and the AXS 2X Innovation ETF witnessed an 80% and 50% jump in trading activity, respectively.
Cathie Wood photo courtesy of Ark Invest.
2021年初，由科技投資者凱西·伍德領導的方舟投資管理了六隻基金的驚人590億美元，使其成爲全球最大的活躍交易所買賣基金管理公司。
三年後，出現了80％的顯著衰退，這些基金的管理資產暴跌至僅111億美元。這種下降可以歸因於多種因素，包括高利率抑制了伍德的長期投機性科技投資，以及隨後出現的幻想破滅的投資者的資金外流。
爲了說明規模，截至2024年4月第三週末，投資者已從伍德積極管理的基金中提取了22.4億美元的大量資金，幾乎是2023年全年資金流出的三倍。
值得注意的是，方舟的旗艦基金方舟創新ETF（紐約證券交易所代碼：ARKK）在今年不到四個月的時間裏流出超過13億美元，遠遠超過了2023年的5.78億美元。
以下是方舟主動管理的ETF在2024年與2023年相比的資金流明細：
ARK 主動管理的 ETF | 2024 年年初至今資金流
（截至4月19日） | 2023 年資金流向 |
|---|
總計 | 2.24 B | 755.3 毫米 |
方舟創新ETF | -1.37 B | -578.15 米 |
ARK 下一代互聯網ETF（紐約證券交易所代碼：ARKW） | -211.66 米 | -63.93 米 |
方舟基因組革命ETF (BATS: ARKG) | -363.74 米 | 40.41 毫米 |
方舟金融科技創新ETF（紐約證券交易所代碼：ARKF） | -144.93 米 | -58.26 米 |
方舟自主科技與機器人ETF (BATS: ARKQ) | -126.76 米 | -53.14 米 |
方舟太空探索與創新ETF（BATS: ARKX） | -21.97 米 | -42.23 米 |
資料來源：VettaFi
數據提供商VettaFi的研究主管託德·羅森布魯斯告訴《華爾街日報》：“忠實的股東感到沮喪。”
儘管Ark今年的增長前景樂觀，而且具有顛覆性的技術投資風格，但羅森布魯斯表示，資金大量集中在表現不佳的公司中仍然令人擔憂。
除了Coinbase Global Inc.（納斯達克股票代碼：COIN）和羅賓漢市場公司（納斯達克股票代碼：HOOD）的唯一例外，方舟創新ETF中其他十大持股均未在2024年產生正回報。
姓名 | 重量 | 返回 |
Coinbase Global, Inc.（納斯達克股票代碼：COIN） | 9.38% | 35.60% |
特斯拉公司（納斯達克股票代碼：TSLA） | 9.32 | -41.76 |
Roku, Inc.（納斯達克股票代碼：ROKU） | 8.27 | -33.26 |
Block, Inc.（紐約證券交易所代碼：SQ） | 6.98 | -4.80 |
UiPath Inc.（紐約證券交易所代碼：PATH） | 5.69 | -21.46 |
CRISPR Therapeutics AG（納斯達克股票代碼：CSRP） | 4.92 | -7.28 |
Zoom 視頻通信有限公司（納斯達克股票代碼：ZM） | 4.50 | -15.59 |
Roblox 公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：RBLX） | 4.47 | -19.14 |
Robinhood Markets, Inc | 4.21 | 38.85 |
Unity 軟件公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：U） | 3.33 | -43.14 |
截至 2024 年 4 月 23 日的數據
凱西·伍德方舟基金的空頭策略浮出水面
凱西·伍德積極管理的基金表現不佳，促使其他ETF發行人對方舟ETF採取空頭策略。
AXS Investments於2021年底推出了AXS空頭創新每日ETF（納斯達克股票代碼：SARK），該基金做空伍德的旗艦ARKK基金，自成立以來已上漲40％。在同一時間內，ARKK創新ETF下跌了60％以上。
2022年5月，AXS Investments還推出了AXS 2X創新ETF（納斯達克股票代碼：TARK），該ETF以2倍的槓桿率做空ARKK。
圖表：做空凱西·伍德的旗艦基金帶來強勁的回報
AXS Investments首席執行官格雷格·巴蘇克上個月在CNBC上強調了影響這兩隻基金的資金流入激增：“隨着成千上萬推動創新的初創企業和小型高增長公司獲得了硅谷銀行和其他類似機構的融資，這確實可能預示着人們對這類創新驅動公司未來獲得融資能力的擔憂。”
硅谷銀行遭遇衝擊七天後，AXS空頭創新每日ETF和AXS 2X創新ETF的交易活動分別增長了80％和50％。
Cathie Wood 照片由 Ark Invest 提供。
