{"id":50430,"date":"2026-02-12T09:49:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/?p=50430"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:49:43","slug":"coinbase-coin-in-limbo-analysts-cut-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/coinbase-coin-in-limbo-analysts-cut-target","title":{"rendered":"Coinbase ($COIN) in Limbo as CEO Continues Selling Shares, Analysts Issue Downgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shares of the largest publicly traded U.S. crypto exchange, Coinbase, fell this week as the broader crypto market takes a hit in prices, and as the market grapples with news insider selling and analyst predictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded<\/a> $COIN from \u201cbuy\u201d to \u201cneutral,\u201d citing downside risk tied to weakening crypto market conditions. The firm set a price target of $120, implying more than 20% downside from recent trading levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downgrade comes as the stock has struggled in early 2026 amid a broader pullback in digital assets<\/a>. COIN opened Thursday around $153, down nearly 10% from intra-week highs, and is now off roughly 34% since the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coinbase\u2019s decline reflects the cooling of crypto markets after last year\u2019s rally. Bitcoin has fallen<\/a> about 30% over the past month, while major altcoins have posted even steeper losses. The downturn has reduced trading volumes across the sector, squeezing one of Coinbase\u2019s core revenue drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts are critical of Coinbase ($COIN)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Analysts across Wall Street have begun revising their forecasts. JPMorgan recently cut its Coinbase price target by 27%, pointing to lower spot trading volumes, declining crypto market capitalization, and weakening stablecoin activity, including softer USDC circulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe view global crypto spot trading as highly fragmented, with dozens of smaller players threatening Coinbase\u2019s market share,\u201d JPMorgan analysts wrote<\/a> in a note shared with Decrypt<\/em>, warning that Coinbase could lose the \u201cregulated monopoly\u201d it has enjoyed as the only major publicly traded crypto exchange for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other firms have also adjusted their outlooks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cantor Fitzgerald reduced its target price from $277 to $221 while maintaining an overweight rating. Citi trimmed its own target from $505 to $400 but kept a buy stance, reflecting longer-term optimism despite near-term headwinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stock now holds<\/a> a consensus rating of \u201cModerate Buy,\u201d with 19 analysts rating the stock a buy, 12 assigning a hold, and one issuing a sell. The average price target across analysts stands near $332, suggesting many still see upside from current levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Armstrong is dumping some of his shares<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

VanEck\u2019s head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel reported that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has sold more than 1.5 million shares between April 2025 and January 2026, worth approximately $545 million based on Bloomberg pricing data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest single sale occurred on June 25, when Armstrong disposed of 336,265 shares at roughly $355 per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armstrong responded publicly on X, defending his selling as a diversification move after more than a decade with most of his wealth tied to one company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be a little crazy after 13 years, to have 99.999% of your net worth in one stock,\u201d Armstrong wrote<\/a> at the time, adding that he remains \u201csuper long\u201d on Coinbase and has used proceeds to start new companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.C. Wainwright analyst Mike Colonnese recently<\/a> warned Coinbase could miss on net revenue and adjusted EBITDA, driven by soft digital asset prices and unrealized crypto losses. He also flagged the possibility of a large headline earnings loss due to Coinbase\u2019s crypto holdings and its stake in Circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would not be surprised to see shares trade lower on the optics of a large reported net loss,\u201d Colonnese wrote, though he maintained a buy rating and said he would view post-earnings weakness as a buying opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this is happening as the Bitcoin price extended its steep decline today after a multi-month-long slide that erased more than half of its value from its\u00a0October peak, with the Bitcoin price now trading near $66,000 following a sharp sell-off that pushed prices\u00a0toward<\/a>\u00a0$60,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since roughly December 2025, the bitcoin price has followed a pretty straightforward downward trajectory, falling from levels above $100,000 into a volatile range that has kept traders focused on whether the market has reached a durable floor<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coinbase is facing some selling pressure on Wall Street as analysts trim expectations and insider selling adds to investor unease ahead of the company\u2019s upcoming earnings report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3817,"featured_media":50431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4378],"tags":[192,190,6090,5999],"class_list":{"0":"post-50430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-brian-armstrong","9":"tag-coinbase","10":"tag-market","11":"tag-stock"},"author_data":{"id":3817,"name":"Micah Zimmerman","nicename":"micahzimmerman","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Micah_Zimmerman_Author_Image.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Coinbase-COIN-in-Limbo-as-CEO-Sells-Shares-Analysts-Issue-Downgrades-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}