Coinbase shares fell Wednesday below their initial opening price, as traders scrambled to assess the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange’s value in a volatile first day following the historic direct listing on Nasdaq.
After opening at $381 at around 1:30 p.m. ET, COINBASE shares (NASDAQ: COIN) soared to as high as $429.54 before dropping more than 100 points over the next hour and a half to close at $328. That was below the $348 price where the shares last changed hands in private markets.
“The price of COIN will be very volatile,” Georgetown finance professor James Angel said. “We can expect it to fluctuate along with the prices of cryptocurrencies. Investors should buckle up.”Even with their dizzying drop, Coinbase shares were still well above their $250 reference point price assigned Tuesday evening by the Nasdaq.
At a share price of $328, Coinbase would have a valuation of about $65 billion, assuming 199.2 million shares outstanding. Using the fully diluted share count of 261.3 million, the implied market capitalization would be about $86 billion.
Earlier in the day, Coinbase had achieved a valuation over $100 billion, based on the higher share count.
The direct listing ranks about even with other similar debuts, according to data compiled by CoinDesk Research:
“There is bound to be a lot of volatility,” Coinbase board member Fred Ehrsam told CNBC Wednesday. “That’s just the nature of such a huge technology coming into existence.”
On the first day of trading, at least, COIN* closed down 14% from its opening price.