Opendoor stock has lost its meme-driven momentum and tests retail conviction.
- OPEN is down 4.3% in January and is on track for its fourth consecutive month in the red.
- Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh is likely to be named the next chair; Warsh is among the most hawkish of the candidates.
- Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian rebuffed concerns about the stock, saying he is focused on core metrics.
Opendoor Technologies, Inc.’s stock is eyeing its fourth month in the red, erasing the meme stock momentum that peaked in September-October and brought in a swathe of new investors to the then little-known online real estate company.
After falling for six sessions straight, OPEN is on track to end 4.3% lower for January. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits has steadily declined from the beginning of the year, now firmly in ‘bearish territory’.
Retail Investors Eye Fed Catalyst
However, the recent slide in OPEN stock signals that investors are not particularly convinced. Retail investors are now looking to the next catalyst – a new Federal Reserve chair who may be inclined to cut interest rates further – as something that would light up the stock again.
Trump said he would name the new Fed chair on Friday, and is largely expected to be former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Warsh is seen as one of the more hawkish candidates, though some market participants believe a Trump-backed Fed could still move toward rate cuts if growth or housing weakens, according to a Reuters report
Several Stoctwits users expect OPEN to rally if and when Warsh is confirmed in the role, and say the current stock price is a steal to gain or double down on exposure to Opendoor.
Housing Market News
Against that backdrop, Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian has repeatedly said Opendoor would buck the trend.
“My mission was and remains to tilt the world towards homeowners while building insanely highly shareholder value. Shareholders don’t want me to (and I don’t) look at the stock price every day,” Nejatian said in an X post on Thursday.
In a separate post, he said, “My job is to focus on internal metrics that create value. Those will show up in the stock market – they just don’t show up instantly.”
The past few weeks saw some lift as President Donald Trump announced measures to boost the housing sector, including curtailing institutional ownership of single-family homes and lowering mortgage rates. U.S. housing sales plummeted to a three-decade low last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Stock Watch
As per Koyfin data, short interest in OPEN nearly halved to 11.9% from the peak in November, while its relative strength index (RSI) reading was just over 38. An RSI above 70 suggests a stock is overbought, while a reading below 30 suggests oversold.
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