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To give a sense of the scale, investors had withdrawn a substantial $2.24 billion from Wood's actively managed funds by the end of the third week of April 2024, nearly tripling the outflows seen throughout all of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，由科技投资者凯西·伍德领导的方舟投资管理了六只基金的惊人590亿美元，使其成为全球最大的活跃交易所买卖基金管理公司。
三年后，出现了80％的显著衰退，这些基金的管理资产暴跌至仅111亿美元。这种下降可以归因于多种因素，包括高利率抑制了伍德的长期投机性科技投资，以及随后出现的幻想破灭的投资者的资金外流。
为了说明规模，截至2024年4月第三周末，投资者已从伍德积极管理的基金中提取了22.4亿美元的大量资金，几乎是2023年全年资金流出的三倍。
值得注意的是，方舟的旗舰基金方舟创新ETF（纽约证券交易所代码：ARKK）在今年不到四个月的时间里流出超过13亿美元，远远超过了2023年的5.78亿美元。
以下是方舟主动管理的ETF在2024年与2023年相比的资金流明细：
ARK 主动管理的 ETF | 2024 年年初至今资金流
（截至4月19日） | 2023 年资金流向 |
|---|
总计 | 2.24 B | 755.3 毫米 |
方舟创新ETF | -1.37 B | -578.15 米 |
ARK 下一代互联网ETF（纽约证券交易所代码：ARKW） | -211.66 米 | -63.93 米 |
方舟基因组革命ETF (BATS: ARKG) | -363.74 米 | 40.41 毫米 |
方舟金融科技创新ETF（纽约证券交易所代码：ARKF） | -144.93 米 | -58.26 米 |
方舟自主科技与机器人ETF (BATS: ARKQ) | -126.76 米 | -53.14 米 |
方舟太空探索与创新ETF（BATS: ARKX） | -21.97 米 | -42.23 米 |
资料来源：VettaFi
数据提供商VettaFi的研究主管托德·罗森布鲁斯告诉《华尔街日报》：“忠实的股东感到沮丧。”
尽管Ark今年的增长前景乐观，而且具有颠覆性的技术投资风格，但罗森布鲁斯表示，资金大量集中在表现不佳的公司中仍然令人担忧。
除了Coinbase Global Inc.（纳斯达克股票代码：COIN）和罗宾汉市场公司（纳斯达克股票代码：HOOD）的唯一例外，方舟创新ETF中其他十大持股均未在2024年产生正回报。
姓名 | 重量 | 返回 |
Coinbase Global, Inc.（纳斯达克股票代码：COIN） | 9.38% | 35.60% |
特斯拉公司（纳斯达克股票代码：TSLA） | 9.32 | -41.76 |
Roku, Inc.（纳斯达克股票代码：ROKU） | 8.27 | -33.26 |
Block, Inc.（纽约证券交易所代码：SQ） | 6.98 | -4.80 |
UiPath Inc.（纽约证券交易所代码：PATH） | 5.69 | -21.46 |
CRISPR Therapeutics AG（纳斯达克股票代码：CSRP） | 4.92 | -7.28 |
Zoom 视频通信有限公司（纳斯达克股票代码：ZM） | 4.50 | -15.59 |
Roblox 公司（纽约证券交易所代码：RBLX） | 4.47 | -19.14 |
Robinhood Markets, Inc | 4.21 | 38.85 |
Unity 软件公司（纽约证券交易所代码：U） | 3.33 | -43.14 |
截至 2024 年 4 月 23 日的数据
凯西·伍德方舟基金的空头策略浮出水面
凯西·伍德积极管理的基金表现不佳，促使其他ETF发行人对方舟ETF采取空头策略。
AXS Investments于2021年底推出了AXS空头创新每日ETF（纳斯达克股票代码：SARK），该基金做空伍德的旗舰ARKK基金，自成立以来已上涨40％。在同一时间内，ARKK创新ETF下跌了60％以上。
2022年5月，AXS Investments还推出了AXS 2X创新ETF（纳斯达克股票代码：TARK），该ETF以2倍的杠杆率做空ARKK。
图表：做空凯西·伍德的旗舰基金带来强劲的回报
AXS Investments首席执行官格雷格·巴苏克上个月在CNBC上强调了影响这两只基金的资金流入激增：“随着成千上万推动创新的初创企业和小型高增长公司获得了硅谷银行和其他类似机构的融资，这确实可能预示着人们对这类创新驱动公司未来获得融资能力的担忧。”
硅谷银行遭遇冲击七天后，AXS空头创新每日ETF和AXS 2X创新ETF的交易活动分别增长了80％和50％。
Cathie Wood 照片由 Ark Invest 提供。
