Nikola Corp (NKLAQ) Stock in December 2025: Bankruptcy, Liquidation and What’s Next for Shareholders

As of December 6, 2025, Nikola Corporation’s stock — now trading over the counter under the ticker NKLAQ — is essentially a liquidation stub. Shares change hands for about $0.0026, down roughly 99–100% over the past year, with a 52‑week range of $0.0001–$1.79. ^[1] At the same time, a court‑approved Plan of Liquidation is moving toward an effective date in December 2025, under which all common stock will be cancelled with no recovery for shareholders. ^[2]

This article walks through the latest developments around Nikola’s bankruptcy, the status of NKLAQ, what the liquidation plan actually says, how analyst forecasts fit (or don’t), and what ancillary deals with Lucid and Hyroad Energy really mean for anyone still watching the stock.

Note: This is not investment, legal, or tax advice. It’s a news-style analysis based on publicly available information as of December 6, 2025.

Nikola Stock Today: NKLAQ on the OTC Expert Market

After being suspended from the Nasdaq on February 26, 2025, Nikola voluntarily delisted, and its common stock deregistration took effect on April 14, 2025. ^[3] The shares now trade over the counter as NKLAQ and are flagged on OTC Markets as an Expert Market security—where trading is highly restricted and aimed mainly at broker‑dealer pricing rather than retail investors. ^[4]

Key snapshot as of early December 2025:

Ticker: NKLAQ (OTC Markets, US) ^[5]
Recent price: about $0.0026 per share, with recent data showing a one‑day move of more than ‑65% and a 12‑month decline around ‑99.8%. ^[6]
Market cap: roughly $0.3 million, according to recent OTC and data‑provider figures. ^[7]
Trading status: thinly traded, highly speculative, and not representative of any ongoing operating business—because Nikola has ceased operations and is in liquidation. ^[8]

Crucially, Nikola’s own SEC filings warn that trading prices may not reflect the pending cancellation of the common stock under the bankruptcy plan and stress that any trading is “highly speculative.” ^[9]

How Nikola Got Here: From SPAC High-Flyer to Chapter 11

Nikola’s story is now one of the most dramatic boom‑and‑bust arcs in the EV space:

The company went public via a SPAC merger in 2020, briefly achieving a valuation above traditional automakers like Ford, despite minimal revenue. ^[10]
Short‑seller allegations in 2020 accused the company and its founder Trevor Milton of extensive misrepresentations, including a now‑infamous video of a truck rolling downhill while presented as fully functional. ^[11]
Milton was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison in 2023. ^[12]
In 2023, fires involving Nikola trucks led to a major recall and added safety concerns just as the company was trying to ramp production. ^[13]

Despite delivering hydrogen fuel‑cell and battery‑electric trucks and building out its HYLA hydrogen fueling network, Nikola was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per truck, with mounting losses and heavy cash burn. ^[14]

By February 2025, the balance sheet was no longer sustainable.

February 2025: Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Asset Sale Strategy

On February 19, 2025, Nikola and certain subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. ^[15]

Key points from court filings and company statements:

Nikola reported cash around $47 million and assets of roughly $500 million–$1 billion, versus liabilities estimated between $1 billion and $10 billion. ^[16]
Management said Chapter 11 was the “best possible path” to preserve value for stakeholders after multiple capital raises, cost cuts, and restructuring attempts. ^[17]
The strategy centered on selling substantially all of the company’s assets via a court‑supervised process and then winding down. ^[18]

In parallel, Nikola noted that ordinary operations—including truck manufacturing and sales—would effectively be phased out as assets were sold. ^[19]

2025 Timeline: Delisting, Asset Sales, and a Court‑Approved Liquidation Plan

Delisting from Nasdaq and Move to OTC

February 26, 2025: Nasdaq suspended trading in Nikola’s common stock. ^[20]
April 3, 2025: Nikola filed Form 25 with the SEC to delist and deregister the stock.
April 14, 2025: Nasdaq delisting became effective; shares later surfaced on the OTC market as NKLAQ. ^[21]

Lucid Group Buys Select Nikola Facilities

On April 11, 2025, Lucid Group announced a deal to acquire selected Arizona facilities and assets that had belonged to Nikola, for about $10 million plus an additional $7 million tied to truck retrofit obligations, according to Nikola’s 10‑K and Reuters reporting. ^[22]

Important nuances:

The transaction did not include Nikola’s core business, customer contracts, or hydrogen fuel‑cell truck technologies. ^[23]
Lucid said it would offer jobs to 300+ former Nikola employees across technical and operations roles at the acquired sites. ^[24]

This was one of several asset sales executed through the bankruptcy process starting in April 2025. ^[25]

Plan of Liquidation and Equity Cancellation

On June 23, 2025, Nikola filed a combined Disclosure Statement and Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation. ^[26] The plan lays out:

Liquidation of the remaining assets;
Creation of a liquidation trust for creditor distributions;
Wind‑down and eventual dissolution of the company. ^[27]

The Bankruptcy Court issued a bench ruling confirming the plan on September 5, 2025, with a written order entered on September 12, 2025. ^[28]

Per the confirmed Plan of Liquidation and Nikola’s 10‑K:

All common stock and equity securities will be cancelled on the plan’s Effective Date.
Shareholders will receive no distribution from the estate or the court in respect of their shares. ^[29]
The company has ceased operations, including manufacturing and truck sales, and is in the process of winding down. ^[30]
Nikola currently expects the Effective Date to be in December 2025, though the filing notes that timing is subject to change. ^[31]

Separately, industry coverage has noted that Nikola reached an $82 million settlement with the SEC in connection with its bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings. ^[32]

For existing or prospective shareholders, the key line from the 10‑K is blunt:

once the plan becomes effective, equity holders get nothing and their shares are cancelled. ^[33]

Hyroad Energy’s “Nikola Revival” — Without the Stock

While Nikola the corporation is being liquidated, its trucks and technology are getting a second life elsewhere.

Hyroad Energy Buys Nikola Trucks, IP and Software

Articles from EV‑focused outlets and industry publications in late November 2025 detail how Hyroad Energy acquired:

About 113 hydrogen fuel‑cell trucks, including 103 brand‑new Nikola Tre FCEV units,
Spare parts and inventory,
Software platforms,
Portions of Nikola’s truck and connectivity intellectual property. ^[34]

Hyroad is positioning itself as an integrated “trucks‑as‑a‑service” provider, bundling vehicles, maintenance, hydrogen supply, and infrastructure into a pay‑per‑mile offering focused initially on California. ^[35]

December 2025: Connectivity Restoration

A major operational pain point for fleets running Nikola trucks emerged when cellular connectivity to production trucks was shut off in July 2025, cutting off live data and fleet management tools. ^[36]

Hyroad’s plan, beginning December 2025, is to:

Restore truck‑to‑cloud connectivity for Nikola Tre BEV and FCEV trucks via a subscription service;
Provide access to the Nikola Fleet web app, the Drive mobile app, and cellular data;
Charge around $299 per truck per month (with discounts for annual prepayment), according to Hyroad’s own blog and related coverage. ^[37]

Important for investors:
Hyroad’s acquisition relates to assets, not Nikola’s stock. It does not change the liquidation plan or the fact that NKLAQ equity is scheduled to be cancelled without recovery. ^[38]

Analyst Forecasts and Price Targets: Mostly Legacy, Not Reality

If you look at some data and research platforms, you’ll still see seemingly dramatic upside forecasts for Nikola:

One aggregated site shows an average 2026 price target around $4.08 with a consensus skewed toward “Hold,” based on three active price targets and a broader group of 12 analysts (0 Buy, 7 Hold, 5 Sell). ^[39]
Those same models project revenue jumping from roughly $69 million in 2024 to more than $360 million in 2025, and into the $500–850 million range by 2027, with EBITDA and net margins improving from extremely negative levels over time. ^[40]

There’s an obvious problem:

These forecasts were built under a going‑concern assumption—that Nikola would keep operating, building trucks, and expanding its hydrogen network. In reality, the company has:

Filed for and progressed through Chapter 11,
Sold substantially all operating assets,
Ceased manufacturing and sales,
Entered a court‑confirmed liquidation, explicitly cancelling equity and dissolving the company. ^[41]

In other words, those price targets and earnings models now function mainly as historical artifacts of what analysts once hoped Nikola could become. They do not reflect the company’s current legal and financial reality.

For anyone considering NKLAQ, the more relevant “forecast” is the one in the bankruptcy documents: expected cancellation of common stock, with no value left for shareholders. ^[42]

Is Nikola Stock (NKLAQ) Still Investable?

From a fundamental perspective, Nikola equity has effectively been written out of the capital structure:

The Plan of Liquidation says all common stock will be cancelled on the Effective Date and that holders will not receive any distribution. ^[43]
The company has ceased operations and sold most assets; a liquidation trust will allocate proceeds to creditors, not shareholders. ^[44]
Nikola itself warns that any continued trading in its stock is highly speculative and that recent market prices may not reflect the pending cancellation. ^[45]

Practically, this means:

For existing shareholders, NKLAQ is best understood as a near‑worthless claim in a bankruptcy estate where equity is explicitly out‑of‑the‑money.
For new buyers, purchasing shares now amounts to speculating against a court‑approved plan that has already been confirmed, with no public indication that it will be reversed.

Investors concerned about losses or tax treatment should discuss their specific situation with a qualified financial or tax professional rather than relying on market rumors or stale analyst notes.

Beyond Nikola: What Its Collapse Means for Hydrogen Truck Stocks

Nikola’s bankruptcy is a major blow for early‑stage EV and hydrogen truck startups, but it hasn’t killed the broader thesis.

A 2025 industry report on hydrogen trucks estimates the global market could surpass $50 billion by 2034, growing at a 25%+ compound annual rate, with established manufacturers like Hyundai, Daimler and Volvo among those driving the build‑out. ^[46]

Nikola’s liquidation underscores a few key themes for this space:

Technology alone isn’t enough. Capital intensity, safety issues and execution risk can overwhelm even promising platforms. ^[47]
Corporate governance and transparency matter. Fraud allegations and legal fallout around Nikola’s founder damaged credibility and limited its ability to raise capital on reasonable terms. ^[48]
Business models will evolve. Hyroad’s trucks‑as‑a‑service approach shows how hydrogen trucking may shift toward integrated service offerings rather than pure vehicle sales. ^[49]

For investors, the message is that the hydrogen truck opportunity may survive Nikola, but stock‑picking in this niche requires a very close read of balance sheets, funding plans and governance practices.

Key Takeaways on Nikola Stock as of December 6, 2025

NKLAQ is trading, but the company is not. Nikola has ceased operations and entered a court‑approved liquidation; the stock remains on the OTC Expert Market mainly as a thinly traded stub. ^[50]
Equity cancellation is written into the Plan of Liquidation. On the expected Effective Date (currently projected for December 2025), all common shares and equity instruments are to be cancelled, with no recovery for shareholders. ^[51]
Recent prices near $0.0026 per share are speculative and misleading as a valuation signal. Company filings explicitly warn that trading prices may not reflect the imminent cancellation. ^[52]
Legacy analyst forecasts (e.g., $4+ targets and triple‑digit revenue growth) no longer apply, because they assume an ongoing business that no longer exists. ^[53]
Asset buyers like Lucid and Hyroad Energy are acquiring bits of Nikola’s former operations and IP, not its stock, and these deals do not alter the liquidation math for NKLAQ holders. ^[54]

For anyone monitoring Nikola Corp stock in December 2025, the core reality is simple but stark: the story has shifted from turnaround speculation to end‑game liquidation, and the company’s own documents state that common shareholders are not in line for recovery.