Published 2026-04-09 · ARK Tracker
ARKK is up 52% over the past 12 months — more than double the S&P 500's 22% return. It's a genuinely impressive number. But zoom out, and the picture gets complicated fast.
ARKK's 12-month +52% figure is real — but an investor who bought ARKK at any point during 2021 is still sitting on a loss today. Five years of compounding on the S&P 500 from that same date would have roughly doubled their money.
ARKK's strong run from April 2025 to April 2026 was driven by three converging factors:
ARKK's top holdings — Tesla, Coinbase, Roku, UiPath, and others — are all high-beta growth names that benefit disproportionately from "risk-on" AI enthusiasm. As the broader AI narrative gained momentum through 2025, capital rotated back into exactly the kind of names ARKK concentrates in.
In this post
- The Headline Numbers
- What Drove the 12-Month Outperformance?
- The 2021 Problem: Why Long-Term Performance Looks Different
- Why Is ARKK Down YTD in 2026?
- Should You Buy ARKK Right Now?
- Frequently Asked Questions