Cathie Wood Buys Robinhood for $39.4M on the Day It Crashed 13% — and Sold the Bitcoin ETF

Q1 crypto revenue fell 47% and the stock crashed; ARK still says the platform thesis is intact and added Robinhood as a core position.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest bought 553,892 shares of Robinhood for roughly $39.4 million across ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF on April 29 — the same day the stock dropped 13.2%. Robinhood reported earnings after the close on April 28; the stock crashed in the regular session on April 29; ARK's buy went through on April 29. While the market was selling, ARK executed its largest single-name buy of the year.

At the same time, ARK sold $6.1 million of ARKB, its spot Bitcoin ETF. Crypto exposure was reduced — not abandoned — and rotated from Bitcoin into the Robinhood platform.

What dragged the stock down 13%

Robinhood's Q1 2026 revenue came in at $1.07 billion, up 15% year-on-year but about $100 million below the $1.17 billion consensus. The culprit was crypto: crypto revenue fell 47% to $134 million, and crypto trading volume was down 48%. The stock is now down roughly 37% YTD after the April 29 drop.

Look beneath the headline and the picture changes. Q1 net income was $346 million, up 3% YoY, with the rest of the business still growing at double-digit rates. The business is not breaking — only one revenue line wobbled.

What Wood sees — "one bad crypto quarter doesn't break the platform"

ARK's logic on Robinhood has been consistent. The fund also bought aggressively in February after Q4 earnings sparked a sell-off. This is the second large buy this year.

Wood doesn't see Robinhood as a retail trading app. She sees a full-stack financial platform combining options, crypto, prediction markets, retirement accounts, and a credit card. One weak quarter in one product does not derail the platform's growth path — that is the thesis.

Robinhood currently sits at ~4.3% of ARKK (a top-6 holding), ~4.6% of ARKW (top-4), and ~4.4% of ARKF (top-6) — a high-conviction position across all three funds, not a speculative sliver.

Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target from $95 to $110 the day of the report and reiterated Overweight. Preliminary data showed equity and options trading volume in April tracking toward its highest monthly level of 2026, suggesting the Q1 crypto weakness may already be in the rearview.

"Contrarian buying isn't always right"

Wood is not always right. ARK's record on high-growth, high-volatility names contains both spectacular wins and long, painful drawdowns. ARKK has been trailing the S&P 500 year-to-date.

Buying after a 37% drop locks in a lower entry price. But buying the dip doesn't guarantee a rebound. Wood's thesis will be tested in Q2 earnings — specifically by whether crypto volumes recover and whether prediction markets and banking services start showing real growth.