By Steve Gelsi
Recap of recent trading reveals strong performance from crypto-related stocks, which have outperformed bitcoin on the week
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc.’s stock stayed hot on Friday, in its second session of trading, and helped sparked gains in shares of other cryptocurrency-related companies.
A lift also came from Robinhood Market Inc.’s stock (HOOD), which was headed for a fourth straight record-high close as a potential candidate for the S&P 500 index SPX, based on the criteria for joining the closely watched benchmark.
See: S&P 500 changes are imminent. Robinhood and these other stocks could join the index.
Circle’s stock (CRCL) was up an additional 44.7% in afternoon trading, after rocketing 168.5% in its public debut on Thursday. The stock was recently trading at nearly four times the initial-public-offering price of $31 a share.
Circle Internet is the parent of the USDC digital currency, which is redeemable 1-for-1 with the U.S. dollar DXY.
While the first day of trading usually captures the most attention with IPOs, second-day stock-price moves tend to be more muted with larger deals of $500 million such as Circle’s.
The second-day trading gain of about 45% for Circle’s newly issued stock puts it many times over the average second-day return for larger IPOs over the past five years, according to Jay Ritter, a University of Florida finance professor who tracks IPOs.
Out of the 77 operating company IPOs of $500 million or more since the start of 2021, the average second-day return was 2.1%, Ritter said in an email to MarketWatch.
Among those, Reddit Inc.’s stock (RDDT) had been the biggest second-day gainer, with a rise of 30% on its second day of trading on March 22, 2024, but Circle is set to eclipse that based on its stock performance with less than three hours left in the trading day.
The IPO of Rivian Automotive Inc.’s stock (RIVN) rose 22% in its second day of trading on Nov. 11, 2021.
Circle’s big second-day rally on Friday came after it became the first IPO in more than four years to run up a 200% intraday gain in its first day of trading, in a sign that Wall Street continues to take the cryptocurrency business more seriously.
See: Circle’s $1.1 billion IPO shows Wall Street is taking stablecoins seriously, as crypto company’s stock nearly triples
Amid this positive sentiment toward the sector, shares of Robinhood, which provides a cryptocurrency-trading platform, climbed 3.9% on Friday and have rallied 13.9% this week.
If the stock gains entrance into the S&P 500, it would be the second crypto-related stock to do so, after Coinbase Global Inc. shares (COIN) were added last month.
That crypto exchange’s stock was up 3.5% on Friday, enough for a 2.5% gain on the week.
Crypto and equity broker eToro Group Ltd.’s stock (ETOR) was up 8.7% on Friday and has run up 14.9% this week; digital-asset company Mara Holdings Inc.’s stock (MARA) gained 7.5% on the day and 13.3% on the week; shares of bitcoin-mining company Riot Platforms Inc. (RIOT) produced a 12.5% gain on the day and 25.3% rally on the week; and MicroStrategy (MSTR), which bills itself as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin (BTCUSD), saw its stock rise 2.9% on Friday and gain 2.8% this week.
Meanwhile, bitcoin was up 3% on the day but has tacked on just 0.6% this week.
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Also this week, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) filed for a Truth Social Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which would reflect bitcoin’s price performance by holding the digital currency directly. The Trump company’s shares gained 3.5% on Friday but have lost 2.4% on the week.
In the fund space, the blockchain-focused Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF BLOK was up by 3.6%, and the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF BITQ jumped 6.3%
For its part, Circle has emerged as a new blue-chip-size company, with a market capitalization verging on $25 billion.
Meanwhile, digital currencies may get an additional lift if Congress manages to pass a regulatory bill for the industry that’s currently working its way through Capitol Hill.
Read on: New crypto bill could turbocharge the stablecoin industry: 4 changes it might bring.
-Steve Gelsi
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06-06-25 1412ET
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