What ARK Sold to Buy SpaceX: The Full 90-Day Rotation

Portfolio Analysis September 3, 2026 • 8 min read • By Theo Ledger

An ETF that is fully invested cannot add a $695 million position without funding it. Here is the bill, line by line — including a complete exit from a stock ARK had held for years.

Last Updated: September 3, 2026

The arithmetic of a fully invested fund

ARK's ETFs hold almost no cash. When a new position appears, something else shrinks. Over the last 90 days ARK built a SpaceX stake now worth $694.7 million across four funds, and added meaningfully to Bitcoin exposure, Nvidia, Tempus AI and its genomics tooling names. All of that had to come from somewhere.

Comparing ARK's holdings file from 90 days ago against the latest one shows exactly where.

The biggest reductions

Roku is gone

The headline is the exit. Roku had been an ARK holding for years and a recognisable name in the flagship fund. ARK's last disclosure showing any Roku position was 5 August 2026. It is not a trim, not a reweighting — the position is closed.

This matters beyond the dollar figure. Roku was one of the connected-TV bets that defined ARK's 2020-era thesis about streaming disrupting linear television. Closing it is a quiet admission that the thesis played out differently than expected, or that the capital is simply better used elsewhere.

The Rocket Lab trade is the interesting one

Look at RKLB. ARK cut Rocket Lab by $129.5 million over the same period it was building SpaceX. Both are launch companies. Both sit in ARKX and ARKQ.

The most natural reading is that ARK is not reducing its exposure to space — it is consolidating it into what it considers the dominant player now that the dominant player is publicly investable. For years, buying the launch thesis meant buying the smaller listed operators because SpaceX was private. That constraint disappeared in June.

Semiconductors funded a lot of this

AMD alone accounts for the largest single reduction at −$459.1 million, and Teradyne contributed another −$127.1 million. Yet over the same window ARK added $134.4 million to Nvidia.

That is not a retreat from semiconductors. It is a concentration within them — moving from the broader chip complex toward the single name most directly levered to AI training demand, while freeing capital for SpaceX. ARK has form here: it tends to hold fewer, larger positions in whichever company it believes is winning a given race.

Where the money went

The shape of the rotation

Stack the two tables together and a clear pattern emerges. Money left consumer internet (Roku, Roblox), broad semiconductors (AMD, Teradyne) and industrials (Deere). It went into space (SpaceX), digital assets (Bitcoin), AI infrastructure (Nvidia) and genomics tooling (Tempus, Twist, 10x).

Note that a meaningful share of the buying went to genomics — $375 million across three names. ARKG has been ARK's worst-performing major fund for years, and this is real capital being committed to the thesis rather than quietly abandoned. That is arguably a bigger statement of conviction than the SpaceX purchase, which had obvious narrative momentum behind it.

Note also what was not sold aggressively. Tesla came down $234.8 million, but on a $1.2 billion starting position that is a trim, not a retreat, and some of it reflects price rather than share sales. Tesla remains ARK's largest single equity holding at $961.7 million.

Following this yourself

Every number here is derived from ARK's own daily holdings files, which we publish within hours of release. You can see the individual transactions on the combined trades page, compare fund composition on combined holdings, or read the companion piece on how ARK built the SpaceX position.

Not investment advice. Published for informational purposes only. WhaleFilings is not affiliated with ARK Invest.