Coinbase dips after Needham slashes target, flags weak crypto trading volumes

Coinbase dips after Needham slashes target, flags weak crypto trading volumes

NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 10:46 ET — Regular session

  • Coinbase shares slip after Needham cut its price target to $290 from $400 while keeping a Buy rating.
  • Bitcoin hovered near $87,700 as crypto-linked shares traded mixed.
  • Investors are watching Fed minutes on Tuesday in a holiday-thinned week for U.S. markets.

Shares of Coinbase Global fell on Monday after Needham and Company lowered its price target for the cryptocurrency exchange operator, citing continued softness in crypto trading volumes.

The call matters because Coinbase’s revenue is closely tied to customer activity, which typically cools when crypto prices lose momentum and retail trading fades.

It also lands in a year-end stretch when liquidity is thinner and investors are quick to fade riskier, high-beta stocks while waiting for fresh signals on interest rates and risk appetite.

Coinbase shares were down about 0.6% at $235.40 in late-morning New York trade, after touching a session high of $239.81 and a low of $233.20.

Needham analyst John Todaro cut his price target to $290 from $400 and kept a Buy rating, TipRanks’ TheFly news service reported.

The firm said it lowered estimates across the “cryptoasset sector” — companies whose results are sensitive to cryptocurrency prices and trading activity — as it expects weakness in crypto volumes for the next couple of quarters. TipRanks

“Retail volumes typically remain muted until momentum returns,” Todaro said, according to the report. TipRanks

A price target is an analyst’s estimate of where a stock could trade over time; Needham’s $290 target implies about 23% upside from where Coinbase was trading on Monday.

Crypto prices were little changed. Bitcoin traded around $87,743, down about 0.1% on the day after earlier reaching $90,247.

Crypto-exposed stocks moved in different directions. Robinhood Markets, which also offers crypto trading, fell about 0.9%, while Strategy rose about 0.5%.

The broader market tone was cautious, with Wall Street’s main indexes lower early in the session as megacap technology stocks pulled back from last week’s gains.

Traders are looking to Tuesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting for clues on how quickly policymakers may cut rates in 2026, a key driver for risk assets including crypto-linked equities.

With U.S. markets closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day, investors also have one eye on whether crypto prices and trading activity pick up as January begins, which would help underpin expectations for Coinbase’s next quarter.

Khadija Saeed

Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech, specializing in stocks, technology and emerging industries. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and previously worked in market research before moving into financial journalism. Her coverage focuses on the companies, innovations and economic trends influencing global investors. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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