2021 hasn’t started well for the Netflix stock

After a remarkable 2020, 2021 hasn’t started well for the Netflix stock.

NFLX has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2011, but in its early years, its performance was far from extraordinary.

Initially, it was priced at $26 per share, soon rising to over $30, but by the end of 2011, it had fallen below $10, with a loss of almost 65%. 

2012 was a little better, as the price stopped falling, and fluctuated throughout the year between about $10 and $15, closing at $13.

Thus, the first two years of the year were not so good for the NFLX stock, which closed with a 50% loss. 

Since 2013, however, things have changed dramatically. 

The Netflix stock rally

In fact, the price rose to over $50, a 284% gain in one year, and 100% since the IPO three years earlier.

In fact, this was a real turning point, because after closing the following year still at around $50, it had another rally in 2015, closing the year at around $115, a gain of 130%. 

The year 2016 was quiet, while in 2017 the price rallied again, almost as if it alternated between a year of lateralization and a year of expansion. 

In fact, 2017 closed with a price of almost 200 dollars a share, and a gain of 53%. 

At this point, a new rally was triggered in 2018, leading the price to reach an incredible peak of $413 in July, only to collapse to $233 in December. 

In other words, not only has the Netflix stock price been decidedly volatile over the years, but it has also recorded significant swings over the medium term. 

2019 saw a year of lateralization, although again with a lot of volatility, and closed at $323 per share. 

In 2020, however, it started to rally again, probably driven by the growth of other Nasdaq-listed stocks. In one year it gained 64% to $540, but this growth did not stop in 2021.

After hitting an all-time high of $556 on September 1st, 2020, the stock began a very volatile lateralization, and eighteen days later it had already fallen below $470. At that point, there were two more rises followed by two more falls, including one at the beginning of 2021.

In fact, 2020 ended with the price at $540, while it has now retraced to $500.

The new year started with a loss of 7%, but last year closed with a price twenty times higher than when it first appeared on the financial markets ten years ago. 

So not only is this a stock that has performed extremely well over the years, and is subject to more than decent volatility, but it also shows a vaguely cyclical pattern of alternating years of big gains and years of lateralization.