Cathie Wood's ARK ETF has its best month ever in January

Cathie Wood's ARK ETF has its best month ever in January

Cathie Wood's flagship ETF - the ARK Innovation Fund - performed better in January than any other month since its launch in 2014.

This comes after a brutal year of declines for the fund, which focuses on long-term investments in disruptive technologies – including the crypto industry.

ARK jumps back

In January, ARK posted a total gain of about 28%, with a gain of 3.7% on Tuesday alone. The month starts at around $30 and is trading for $39.72 at the time of writing.

The gains are a reassuring sign after the tech-focused fund fell 21% in 2021 and a whopping 69% in 2022 amid worsening macroeconomic conditions that devastated stocks and crypto alike.

However, January was friendlier for the technology sector as markets regained confidence in response to promising inflation data in December. As once-red-hot inflation begins to cool, some believe the Federal Reserve could be ready to reverse course and cut interest rates again, which would be a boon for markets.

Bitcoin is up 41% since the start of last month, while the NASDAQ is up about 14%. Each posted significant gains on Wednesday shortly after the Federal Reserveannouncedan interest rate increase of 25 basis points – milder than in previous months.

However, one of the biggest winners since the beginning of January isTesla– Up 68% since Jan. 3, after falling 64% last year. It was one of the main reasons for ARK's success last month after Wood entered Tesla stock with over $19 million in recent weeks.

Other big gainers for ARK included Spotify and Roku, which rose 45% and 49%, respectively, for the month.

Crypto investments from ARK

There is heavy investment in ARKCoin base, America's largest crypto exchange, accounting for 4.5% of the company's portfolio. That's a position worth $347 million - even after thatcall it quitssome stocks back in July. Although still down 66% year-over-year, COIN is up 95% year-to-date.

ARK's other big crypto play is GBTC – the fund's closest form of exposure to Bitcoin. Shares of the fund are now trading at $12.54 each, up 52% ​​since last month. While ARK snapped up $4.5 million worth of shares in the trust in November, it dumped 500,000 shares back on the market last month following its recovery.

Still, GBTC is trading at a massive 42% discount to its underlying Bitcoin holdings as regulators refuse to allow the fund to become a standard spot ETF. Wood has tried to launch his own Bitcoin ETF alongside 21Shares, but has encountered the same resistance.

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