Coinbase dips as CEO Armstrong trims COIN holdings

Armstrong’s sales have been executed in a regular cadence that market observers tie to a 10b5-1 plan, a structure that allows corporate insiders to schedule trades in advance. One example cited in recent filings coverage was a Jan. 5, 2026 transaction totaling about $9.9 million, executed at weighted average prices around the high-$240s to about $250 per share.

Aggregated tallies shared by market commentators this week put the total at over 1.5 million shares sold from April 2025 through Jan. 2026, with gross proceeds estimated around $550 million. The same compilation highlighted a large single-day disposal on June 25, 2025 – about 336,265 shares – at a price around $355 per share, alongside dozens of smaller, repeated sales.

The renewed focus on insider selling landed amid a broader risk-off tone for crypto-exposed equities. In the same session, crypto-linked stocks were pressured alongside softer digital-asset prices, with Coinbase among the names moving lower as investors tracked macro catalysts and volatility across the complex.

The scrutiny around Armstrong’s sales also intersects with a separate, closely watched marker of his Coinbase-linked wealth. A Bloomberg profile earlier this week said Armstrong dropped out of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s top 500 after a drawdown in crypto prices and weakness in Coinbase shares, noting that his wealth had fallen by more than $10 billion from a peak near $17.7 billion.

That same report pointed to shifting expectations on Wall Street as another headwind. It said JPMorgan cut its Coinbase price target by 27% in a note that cited softer crypto prices, lower trading volumes, and slower stablecoin growth as factors weighing on near-term fundamentals.

In parallel, the wider market is treating COIN as a high-beta proxy for crypto activity, making it sensitive to both token prices and trading volumes. A recent market wrap described crypto-related stocks swinging with Bitcoin’s price action, underscoring how quickly sentiment can flip between “risk-on rebound” days and sessions dominated by deleveraging or macro-driven selling.

Armstrong’s ongoing disposals are not unusual in form – 10b5-1 plans are widely used by executives – but the size and persistence have kept them in focus as Coinbase shares navigate a volatile cycle. The January sale cited in filings coverage explicitly described the trades as being executed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, which is designed to reduce the appearance that trades are timed to material nonpublic information.

For investors, the immediate question is less about the existence of insider sales than what the flow of stock supply means when combined with a weaker tape for crypto assets and shifting expectations for exchange revenue. Coinbase’s performance is tightly linked to retail and institutional activity, and the stock often reacts to changes in market volumes, volatility, and the direction of crypto prices – inputs that have been choppy into mid-February.

The sales data may continue to be a headline risk as additional filings post and as traders position around upcoming company and macro catalysts. With the stock trading as a crypto proxy, COIN’s near-term path remains sensitive to broad risk appetite, the direction of Bitcoin and other major tokens, and any evidence of improving or deteriorating volumes – while executive-selling updates add another layer for the market to digest.