TSLA Is Down Nearly 50% Post High Investments by Congress Members

Shares of Tesla (TSLA:US) are trading 54.26% in the red year-to-date (YTD), thus trapping many investors who were buying stock since the start of last year.

Last week, Tesla’s stock price hit a 2-year low of $166.19. From the 2021 peak to the 2022 trough, Tesla stock was down about 51.74%. The combination of rising interest rates continued supply chain issues, difficulties in ramping production in Germany and Texas, as well as the saga around CEO Elon Musk taking Twitter private have all weighed on Tesla stock.

The latest drop in Tesla shares came after Musk disclosed he sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla shares to support his expensive $44 billion takeover of Twitter. The stock sale prompted prominent Tesla bull, Wedbush’s analyst Daniel Ives, to remove the company from the broker’s Best Idea List.

“The Twitter deal remains an albatross in many ways but it looks like the Musk stock sale worries now should be done. Tesla stock down big since Twitter deal. Frustrating situation for all,” Ives said in a tweet.

It’s not just retail traders who are underwater on their Tesla trades. For instance, Californian Rep. Mike Garcia invested between $50,000 - $100,000 in Tesla stock on September 29 this year, when shares closed at $268.21 per share.

Similarly, Rep. Ro Khanna was buying Tesla stock for a similar amount on July 19, when the stock closed at $736.59 a share. Tesla went through a 3-for-1 stock split in late August, meaning that Khanna’s entry price is around $245 a share.

Democrat from Texas, Vicente Gonzalez, is another Representative who bought Tesla stock this year. He invested between $100,000 to $250,000 on May 29, when Tesla stock closed at $759.63, equivalent to $253.21 a share after the stock split.

Last but not the least, Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi exercised 25 call options at a strike price of $500 in March this year. The value was set at between $1 million to $5 million.

Tesla's stock price closed last week 1.5% higher at $182.86.