When was the worst ever day on the Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price chart?

What was the worst day for Zip shareholders?

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A wide-eyed man peers out from a small gap in his black zipped jumper conveying fear over the weak Zip share price

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The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price has had its fair share of ups and downs since listing on the ASX at the end of 2009.

To be fair, it's been more ups than downs, with the company's value increasing 292% in the years since its initial public offering (IPO).

That doesn't mean it hasn't had some heavy downs during its run on the ASX.

Let's take a closer look.

What were the worst trading days for the Zip share price?

The Zip share price has had multiple days where it has plummeted to close by double digits. Here are the 5 worst days since the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider listed on the ASX.

1 September 2020

Zip shares fell a whopping 12.8% by the close of trade that day to finish at $7.99 per share. The catalyst for the drop was the announcement from US-based PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) that it would be entering the BNPL space. Australia BNPL rival Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) also fell on the day by a substantial margin.

17 February 2021

The Zip share price fell 14.0% on this day and finished at $11.97. As Motley Fool reported at the time, there appeared to be three separate catalysts for the falling Zip shares. The first was general weakness across the tech sector at the time amid rampant fears of runaway inflation.

The second was potentially profit taking by investors looking to cash in on a good bet, and the third appeared to be investors looking to exit when it seemed unlikely the company would be listing in the United States anytime soon.

9, 12, and 18 March 2020

As anyone who was invested in the stock market at the time probably has seared into their memories, this was at the height of the COVID-driven market crash of last year. On these days, Zip lost a respective 17.6%, 18.8%, and 17.8% in value – all within the space of just 9 days!

Foolish takeaway

In terms of the highest fall percentage-wise, the worst day for Zip shareholders was 12 March 2020. However, in terms of market capitalisation loss, the worst trading for Zip was 17 February 2021.

Just under $1.1 billion was wiped from the company in a single day. This is the equivalent to Aussie Broadband Ltd's(ASX: ABB) entire market cap as of writing.

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO, Aussie Broadband Limited, PayPal Holdings, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $75 calls on PayPal Holdings. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Aussie Broadband Limited and PayPal Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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