LemonTradesNvidia stock plunge: the reasons
Why Nvidia falls when it does: today’s move and the headlines behind it, its biggest drops since 2020 and what caused them, and how long each one took to recover.
- Pre-market
- $217.35 −2.08% 7:38 AM ET
- Nasdaq 100 futures
- −1.88%
- Record close
- $239.24 Oct 6, 2026
- From the record
- +7.8% to get back
- This year
- +19.0%
- 52-week range
- $164.27–$243.37
Nvidia is up 2.52% today, so it isn’t plunging right now.
Today’s reasons
The headlines from the last two days that the LemonTrades desk scored highest for Nvidia, with how each one pushes the stock.
- Wed 9:45 AMByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent Just Ordered $35 Billion of Nvidia Chips
Huge $35 billion order directly boosts Nvidia's revenue outlook.
- Wed 8:05 AMSuper Micro Says AI Demand Is So Strong It Blew Past Its Own Forecast by 25%
Massive AI server demand signals stronger sales for Nvidia chips.
- Tue 4:04 PMAnthropic May Spend $750 Billion on Computing Costs, WSJ Reports
Massive AI computing capex directly boosts demand expectations for Nvidia chips.
- Tue 8:24 AMGermany and NVIDIA Expand AI Partnership With a $10 Billion Commitment
A guaranteed 10 billion dollar partnership expands revenue, lifting Nvidia stock.
- 6:10 AMNvidia CEO Jensen Huang says neocloud demand is 'off the charts' but capital is scarce
Strong cloud demand boosts chip sales, but capital constraints highlight risk.
- 4:34 AMAI Stocks Slide After Earnings Disappoint
Weakness across AI-related earnings hurts sentiment in bellwether AI stocks.
- Wed 10:17 PMDeepSeek Raises $15 Billion in Challenge to Leading US Labs
Rising Chinese AI competition could threaten US tech chip demand and valuations.
- Wed 4:07 PMMeta Boosts Bet on AI With New Spending Outlook, Stock Offering
Increased AI capital spending by Meta directly boosts demand for AI hardware.
- Wed 10:30 PMDeepSeek raises $15 billion to challenge leading US AI labs
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has raised $15 billion, according to Bloomberg, positioning itself to compete more directly with top US AI developers.
- Wed 4:10 PMMeta raises AI spending outlook, announces stock offering
Meta boosted its AI investment with a new spending outlook and announced a stock offering, per Bloomberg. No figures were given in the headline.
- Wed 11:37 AMTrump says AI data centres should pay 'dividends' to public
President Trump said AI data centres should pay 'dividends', according to Al Jazeera. The outlet called it a pre-midterm shift in his stance on the AI build-out. No details were given on how payments would work.
- Wed 9:52 AMByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent order $35 billion of Nvidia chips
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered $35 billion of Nvidia chips, according to a Yahoo headline. No further details were given on chip models, timing or export approvals.
Chip stocks today
If other chipmakers fall as much, it’s a sector move; if only Nvidia falls, it’s Nvidia’s own news.
| Stock | Price | Today |
|---|---|---|
| NvidiaNVDA | $221.94 | +2.52% |
| AMDAMD | $552.72 | 0.00% |
| BroadcomAVGO | $337.80 | 0.00% |
| Taiwan SemiconductorTSM | $431.89 | 0.00% |
| Nasdaq 100 futuresNDX | 29,458.25 | −1.88% |
| MicrosoftMSFT | $532.95 | +0.15% |
Nvidia’s biggest one-day drops since 2020
| Day | Drop | Back above the prior close |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2020The pandemic crash: the whole market fell 12% that day | −18.5% | 6 trading days |
| Jan 27, 2025DeepSeek: a Chinese AI lab said it trained a top model cheaply, raising doubts about AI chip demand; the biggest one-day loss of market value in US history | −17.0% | 92 trading days |
| Mar 12, 2020The pandemic sell-off | −12.2% | 8 trading days |
| Apr 19, 2024A chip sell-off as investors questioned AI spending | −10.0% | 5 trading days |
| Sep 3, 2024A broad chip sell-off on weak factory data, with reports of an antitrust probe | −9.5% | 15 trading days |
| Sep 13, 2022A hot inflation report sank tech stocks | −9.5% | 40 trading days |
| Sep 3, 2020 | −9.3% | 45 trading days |
| May 9, 2022 | −9.2% | 14 trading days |
The biggest drops this year
| Day | Drop | Back above the prior close |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 5, 2026 | −6.2% | 41 trading days |
| Feb 26, 2026The day after its quarterly results | −5.5% | 32 trading days |
| Jul 27, 2026Worries about circular AI financing, where chipmakers fund their own customers | −5.0% | 6 trading days |
| Apr 30, 2026 | −4.6% | 5 trading days |
| Aug 28, 2026The day after its quarterly results | −4.6% | 4 trading days |
| May 15, 2026Reports that only limited H200 chip sales to China were likely | −4.4% | 97 trading days |
From daily closes, split-adjusted. “Back above” counts the trading days until Nvidia closed above where it was before the drop.
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Why Nvidia stock plunges
- Doubts about AI spending: anything suggesting AI needs fewer chips, like DeepSeek in January 2025, or that big tech will slow its spending.
- Earnings: even strong results can disappoint when expectations are sky-high; the guidance matters more than the quarter.
- China and export rules: US limits on which chips can be sold to China, and Chinese pushes to use local chips.
- Rates and inflation: a hot CPI report or rising yields hit expensive growth stocks; in mid-October 2026 the chip index fell eight days in a row.
- Financing worries: concern that some AI demand is funded by Nvidia’s own investments in its customers.
- Crowded trades: Nvidia is one of the most owned stocks in the world, so selling can feed on itself.
Most of its drops since 2020 were recovered within weeks or months, but past recoveries don’t promise future ones.
Questions
Why is Nvidia stock down today?
Nvidia is up 2.52% today, so it isn’t plunging right now.
What was Nvidia’s biggest drop ever?
In market value, January 27, 2025: it fell 17% after DeepSeek’s AI model launch, losing nearly $600 billion, the largest one-day loss in US history. In percent, March 16, 2020, at 18.5%.
Is Nvidia stock down this year?
It’s +19.0% since the end of last year.
Follow NVDA on LemonTrades: Nvidia headlines scored the minute they break, ⚡ alerts when it drops 1.5% in five minutes with the likely cause, and a morning brief with the day’s levels. Try LemonTrades free for 3 days, no card needed.
Market news and analysis, not financial advice. AI can misread a headline, so check the source before acting on anything important. Prices and news may be delayed.