Bullish Stock: Buy The Dip?

Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) stock surged after its IPO last Wednesday. While the listing was priced at $37 per share, but the stock jumped to $118 in early trading before cooling off to about $63 after another sharp sell-off on Monday. The company operates a cryptocurrency exchange built for institutional investors, combining decentralized finance protocols with the safeguards of a centralized platform. It also owns Coin Desk, a leading crypto news and data provider, and this gives it media influence and the ability to integrate market intelligence with trading services. This is a perk for institutional investors. Bullish is focused on regulatory compliance, licensing, and governance frameworks given its institutional customer base.  So is Bullish stock a buy after the sharp sell-off?

Image by A M Hasan Nasim from Pixabay

Strong Growth

Although the company’s positioning is unique, the stock still trades at about 95x 2024 revenues post the recent sell-off, which is not a cheap multiple even for a fast-growing company. Bullish’s revenues climbed to $97 million in 2024 from $39 million in 2023, up over 140% year-on-year, with trading volumes hitting $250 billion in 2024 versus $72.7 billion in 2022. Q1 2025 volumes rose another 78%, and management projects profitability in Q2 with net income above $100 million. The platform has seen more than $1.25 trillion in total trading volume since launch and holds $2 billion in crypto assets, mostly Bitcoin with smaller allocations to Ethereum and stablecoins.

Crypto markets remain unpredictable, with price swings in Bitcoin and Ethereum directly impacting results. That being said, unlike retail-focused exchanges, Bullish operates for institutional investors, focusing on Bitcoin and Ethereum trading. The demand from more long-term investors with serious money could make the company less prone to swings compared to other brokers. Separately, will interface design software Figma stock fall to $40?

A Smart Play On Institutional Crypto

The investment thesis for Bullish stock hinges on long term growth prospects from institutional adoption of crypto. Unlike the previous crypto cycles which were dominated by retail traders, institutional demand is now accelerating driven by greater regulatory clarity, the rollout of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and stronger custody and compliance frameworks. The Trump administration’s favorable stance toward crypto and the passage of supportive legislation could also help drive up interest further. Big money managers, pension funds, endowments, and hedge funds are increasingly adding digital assets to their strategies, bringing deeper liquidity and longer investment horizons.

For investors, this shift could justify paying a premium for Bullish, which is one of the few platforms purpose-built for these clients. That said, there are risks, too. Competition from the likes of Coinbase and Gemini could mount. On the stock side, insider lock-ups ending in February 2026 and this could boost supply of the stock and put downward pressure on prices.

While BLSH stock has potential, investing in a single stock can be risky. On the other hand, the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 4-year period. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.