Billions in thin air: Why Tesla has to take a beating

The price of Tesla shares collapses, $ 80 billion market value is destroyed in a few hours. How could this happen?

This is called a sudden crash: Tesla's share price plummeted more than 20 percent yesterday. The stock market value of the electric car pioneer shrank by a whopping 80 billion dollars – that's more than the market capitalization of Ford and General Motors (GM) combined. What's going on there?

In the past week, the share had reached a record high of around $ 502, but now it went rapidly downhill. The trigger after the rapid rally is that, surprisingly, Tesla will not be included in the much-noticed S&P 500 index on September 21. Many funds replicate the composition of this leading index and would have had to stock up on shares for a short time if Tesla had been admitted, which would have resulted in rising prices.

Nikola course is going through the roof

The non-inclusion was the reason for investors who had bet on a price increase to sell their shares. In addition, some funds are likely to have positioned themselves in advance. They are also dissolving their Tesla positions. The reason for the refused entry also ensured the price slide: The index provider gave preference to companies that are worth significantly less on the stock market than Tesla, but generate more quarterly profits. In addition, spoke against Tesla that the share is extremely volatile.

Another reason for the crash: Many investors are likely to have taken the opportunity to get out after the sharp price gains last week. In addition, there is the news that GM is investing in Tesla competitor Nikola. The "Badger" model from the specialist in electric pickups is intended to compete with Tesla's "Cybertruck". GM will manufacture the pick-up truck. As a result, Nikola shares shot up more than 50 percent at times, while GM stocks rose a good ten percent.

Tesla will likely continue to decline today. The shares are 1.8 percent in the red before the IPO in the USA.