Shares of Coinbase rose about 18% on Friday to around $167 following its fourth-quarter earnings report, even after the crypto exchange posted a net loss for the period and the stock remains nearly 30% lower year to date.
Coinbase Rallies After 4Q Loss as Buybacks, Derivatives Drive Optimism
13 February 2026 - 21:22 CET
By Ana Pereira
The company reported softer results amid declining crypto prices, with transaction revenue pressured during the quarter as total crypto market capitalization fell 11% sequentially. Despite the loss, management emphasized progress in diversifying the business beyond spot trading.
“We’ve successfully diversified the business where stablecoins, subscription and services revenue, and now trading of other asset classes like stocks, prediction markets, and commodities means our revenue is less correlated to crypto price fluctuations,” said CEO Brian Armstrong speaking on the earnings call.
Coinbase's full-year revenue reached $7.2bn, while subscription and services revenue climbed 23% to $2.8bn.
Trading volume held up better than broader market conditions, driven by growth in derivatives. CFO Alesia Haas said the company “outperformed the market on total trading volume driven by strong derivatives volume growth.”
Coinbase’s total trading volume rose 156% year over year to $5.2tn in 2025. Over the quarter, consumer spot trading volume totaled $56bn and institutional spot trading volume reached $215bn, retracing by 6% and 13%, respectively.
Analysts trim targets
Wall Street reaction has been cautious. Several analysts trimmed price targets ahead of the earnings release, citing weaker transaction trends and ongoing crypto volatility. However, many maintained buy-equivalent ratings, arguing that Coinbase’s push into derivatives, stablecoins and multi-asset trading could reduce earnings volatility over time.
A Seeking Alpha analysis described the quarter as “ugly,” highlighting the $667mn GAAP net loss, largely driven by a $718mn unrealized loss on Coinbase’s crypto investment portfolio.
Investors, however, may have been encouraged by capital returns. Coinbase authorized an additional $2bn in share buybacks. The company ended the year with more than $11bn in cash.
“We’ll keep buying Bitcoin. We’ll continue to buy our stock back and we won’t stop building,” Armstrong said.
Derivates growth
Coinbase management pointed to derivatives as a key area of expansion heading into 2026. “Derivatives will be a big growth driver. We believe in 2026 we have good momentum both across the US and our international markets,” Haas said.
The company has been expanding its futures and perpetual products, including through the integration of Deribit, as it looks to capture a larger share of institutional trading activity and reduce reliance on retail spot volumes, which tend to be more sensitive to crypto price swings.
