Coinbase Global Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:COIN)

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 523,995 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 113% compared to the typical volume of 246,272 put options.

Key Headlines Impacting Coinbase Global

Here are the key news stories impacting Coinbase Global this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Nevada regulators failed to get an immediate court order to stop Coinbase’s prediction markets, giving the company a short-term legal win and time to press its CFTC preemption defense. Cointelegraph — Nevada loses bid to halt Coinbase prediction markets
• Positive Sentiment: Coinbase officially launched Coinbase Predict across all 50 U.S. states — a product expansion that opens a new revenue stream beyond spot trading (partnership with Kalshi; regulatory path via Coinbase Financial Markets). The Merkle — Coinbase launches prediction market platform
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts continue to express confidence in Coinbase’s growth prospects while flagging volume pressure — analyst commentary can cushion downside and support valuation in volatile crypto markets. Benzinga — Demystifying Coinbase: insights from 12 analyst reviews
• Neutral Sentiment: Data on short interest in early February appears anomalous/blank in the feed and shows no actionable change (watch official exchanges for accurate updates).
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed ARK activity: small reported buys were offset by larger disclosed sells in separate filings — this creates headline volatility but ARK flows have been choppy and not a single directional driver. Blockonomi — Cathie Wood buys Coinbase & Circle during decline
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative explaining today’s uptick: coverage notes COIN is rallying intraday despite reported ARK sells — short-term technical/dip-buying dynamics may be in play. TipRanks — Why COIN is rising despite ARK dump
• Negative Sentiment: ARK Invest disclosed a ~$17M sale of Coinbase stock in recent filings — an institutional seller of this size adds downward pressure and fuels headline risk. Cointelegraph — ARK dumps $17M in Coinbase stock
• Negative Sentiment: Options flow shows unusually large put buying (roughly 524k puts), indicating traders are hedging or speculating on downside — puts at this scale typically increase near-term volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: The “Coinbase Premium” metric has fallen to yearly lows, signaling U.S. institutional selling of Bitcoin — weaker institutional demand for BTC pressures Coinbase’s trading volume and revenue. Cointelegraph — Coinbase premium hits yearly low
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst previews and coverage expect flat Q4 revenue / lower earnings headwinds ahead of earnings season, which keeps downside risk for shares if results miss. Zacks — COIN Q4 earnings expected to decline
• Negative Sentiment: Newly disclosed documents linking Jeffrey Epstein to early crypto figures (including mentions of early Coinbase investment connections) are a reputational/legal overhang that could attract media and regulatory scrutiny. Fortune — Epstein’s crypto ties and early Coinbase mentions

Coinbase Global Price Performance

Coinbase Global stock opened at $165.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 3.70. Coinbase Global has a 12-month low of $142.58 and a 12-month high of $444.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $235.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $293.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $340.00 price target on Coinbase Global in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Bank of America upgraded Coinbase Global from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Coinbase Global in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Coinbase Global from $303.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on shares of Coinbase Global from $185.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Alesia J. Haas sold 8,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,012,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 70,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,666,000. This represents a 10.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Armstrong sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.96, for a total transaction of $9,958,400.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 488,586 shares of company stock worth $137,640,636. Corporate insiders own 16.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Coinbase Global by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,400,836 shares of the cryptocurrency exchange’s stock valued at $5,970,285,000 after purchasing an additional 184,043 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Coinbase Global by 46.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,559,513 shares of the cryptocurrency exchange’s stock valued at $1,940,805,000 after buying an additional 1,755,146 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Coinbase Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,044,354,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Coinbase Global by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,959,871 shares of the cryptocurrency exchange’s stock worth $661,437,000 after acquiring an additional 108,751 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Coinbase Global by 53.0% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,455,916 shares of the cryptocurrency exchange’s stock worth $510,284,000 after acquiring an additional 504,068 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.84% of the company’s stock.

Coinbase Global Company Profile

Coinbase Global, Inc is a U.S.-based company that operates one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and headquartered in San Francisco, Coinbase provides technology and infrastructure to buy, sell, store and use a broad range of digital assets. The company became a public company through a direct listing on the NASDAQ in April 2021 and offers services tailored to both retail and institutional customers.

Coinbase’s product portfolio includes its consumer trading platform, a self-custody mobile wallet, and institutional services such as custody, prime brokerage and execution tools.