Cathie Woods ARKK has trailed BTC, S&P 500 since inception
Cathie Woods flagship fund has spent more than a decade failing to beat her two most obvious benchmarks. Her multi-billion dollar ARKK fund, which launched on October 31, 2014, has trailed the S&P 500s total return, and BTC, since inception. Even investors who might have tried to time their entries and exits out of Woods funds would have had a difficult time finding a slice of outperformance, as Ark Invest also underperformed most calendar years across that timespan. It was easy for ARKK to outperform BTC during particularly bad years for the asset. For example, it crashed 73% in 2018 or -67% in 2022. However, Woods pro-Tesla, pro-BTC, pro-AI, and pro-gene editing fund failed to beat its benchmarks over the long haul. Cumulative returns over the full stretch, October 31, 2014 through yesterdays close, are 318% for ARKK, 23,214% for BTC, and 367% for the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested. S&P 500 Total Return versus ARK Innovation ETF (yellow) since inception. Source: TradingViewTrailing the market despite a decade of work Although it‘s embarrassing for any fund manager to work full-time for a decade only to trail a passive, labor-free investment in the S&P 500, ARKK’s 49% shortfall actually fails to illustrate how bad the past five years
