PayPal stock: One of Nasdaq 100's worst in 2025? Here's why

PayPal stock price remained under pressure in 2025 as it continued to underperform other technology companies in the U.S.

Summary

• PayPal stock was the fifth-best performing company in the Nasdaq 100 Index this year
• The company’s revenue and user growth has largely stagnated.
• Technical analysis suggests that the stock has more downside to go.

PayPal dropped by 30% this year, making it the fifth-worst performer in the Nasdaq 100 Index. These stocks did worse:

• Strategy Inc, -47%
• Charter Communications, -40%
• Atlassian, -32.6% and
• Copart, -30.4%.

Its long-term performance is even worse, as the stock has plunged from $308 in 2021 to $60 today. That crash has brought its market capitalization from over $348 billion to $56 billion.

The most significant risk that PayPal stock faces is the ongoing growth of the stablecoin industry. Data indicate that the market capitalization of all stablecoins has increased to over $310 billion, with USDT and USDC holding the most significant market shares.

In October, PayPal’s PYUSD supply surged 113% month-over-month. It has accumulated over $3.6 billion in assets.

Stablecoin transactions are usually cheaper and may disrupt the existing financial systems in the long term. Their transactions incur fees, whereas a typical PayPal transaction incurs over 3%

It’s unclear whether PayPal’s revenue, ever since it entered the stablecoin industry, will offset the loss of business as people and companies adopt stablecoins

PayPal stock price also crashed as the company’s growth stagnated. The most recent results showed that its revenue rose by 7% in the third quarter to $8.47 billion, while the account growth was just 1%

Data compiled by Yahoo Finance indicate that the average fourth-quarter revenue estimate will be $8.8 billion, up by 5.4% in the same period last year. If this is correct, then its annual revenue will be $33 billion, up by 4.7% YoY. Historically, PayPal was one of the fastest-growing companies in the US

PayPal’s unbranded business is also facing substantial competition from Buy Now, Pay Later companies like Affirm, AfterPay, and Klarna

PayPal stock price technical analysis

PYPL stock chart | Source: TradingViewThe weekly timeframe chart shows that the PYPL share price has come under pressure in the past few months. It has slumped from a high of $92.94 in December last year to the current $60.

The stock has formed a head-and-shoulders pattern and is now at its neckline. H&S is one of the most bearish patterns in technical analysis

It has remained below all moving averages and the Supertrend indicators. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that it continues to fall in the coming weeks, with the next key target at $50.