Tesla stock is back in positive territory for the year after plunging 45%. 5 key events explain its roller-coaster ride.
Elon Musk spoke onstage during an inauguration event at Capital One Arena.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Tesla stock is back in positive territory after a turbulent first half of the year.
Shares of the EV maker were down as much as 45% year-to-date before clawing back losses.
The Musk-Trump breakup, declining EV sales, and rate-cut excitement have been some of the factors driving the stock.
It’s official: after a roller-coaster 2025, Tesla shares are green again for the year.
Shares of Elon Musk’s carmaker rallied as much as 8% on Monday, bringing the stock’s year-to-date gain to 5% and putting it in positive territory for the first time since January.
At the stock’s lowest point in early April, shares were down 45% year-to-date on a closing basis.
Here’s a timeline of Tesla’s stock swings and what’s been driving the stock in 2025.
September: Elon Musk snaps up $1 billion worth of Tesla stock
ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images
Musk scooping up more shares of his company is the latest positive catalyst for Tesla. The stock’s 8% jump on Monday continues a streak of winning sessions, with shares up about 22% in the last three days.
Investors are cheering Musk’s stock purchases as part of the overall bullish outlook for Tesla stock, as the CEO looks to boost his ownership of the company.
Musk purchased 2.57 million shares, or around $1 billion worth of the company’s stock, according to an SEC filing. Musk owns about 13% of Tesla stock and has said he wants a 25% stake.
“This purchase is Musk’s first buy since 2020. To us, this sends a strong signal of confidence in the most important part of Tesla’s future business, robotaxi,” analysts at William Blair wrote in a client note.
August: Powell’s Jackson Hole speech
Associated Press
Adding to the recent surge has been the market’s enthusiasm for rate cuts from the Fed, which began to swell in earnest after Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke at the central bank’s Jackson Hole symposium in August.
The Fed chief suggested that the central bank was poised to lower interest rates at its policy meeting in September. Investors have been waiting all year for the Fed to resume its rate-cutting cycle, a move that would be bullish for the price of risk assets, like stocks.
That day, Tesla shares jumped 6%, outpacing the S&P 500’s 1.5% gain. Markets are now pricing in with near certainty that the Fed will trim its target rate by a quarter-point this week.
June: Musk breaks up with Trump
Alex Brandon
Elon Musk, who became a close ally of President Donald Trump leading up to his election win in November, had a public falling out with the president on social media, causing investor sentiment in Tesla to plummet.
The two billionaires began bickering on their respective social media platforms about Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which axed the $7,500 EV tax credit, among other provisions. The sell-off intensified as Musk and Trump continued to trade barbs, with Trump threatening to cancel key government contracts with Musk’s firms in a post on Truth Social.
Tesla stock plunged 14% on June 5, the day the feud kicked off.
The sell-off started to abate as the bickering cooled off. On June 11, Musk said he regretted some of his comments about Trump on social media. Tesla shares climbed 6% through the end of the week.
Q1 and Q2: Tesla’s sales rout picks up steam
Tesla cars charge at a Supercharger station in Irvine, California.MediaNews Group/Orange County Register / Getty Images
Tesla sales have been sliding all year, with each report of declining deliveries creating fresh headwinds for the stock.
In February, a report said that Tesla sales were down 45% year-over-year in Europe, causing the stock to drop 8% in a single day.
In March, a separate report said that Tesla sold 30,688 EVs in China the prior month, a 49% year-over-year drop. The stock plummeted 18% from March 4 until it hit its low on March 10.
In April, the company reported that it delivered 336,700 EVs in the first quarter, reflecting a 13% year-over-year drop. Tesla—under pressure alongside the broader market, which was reacting to Trump’s tariffs—dropped 41% from April 2 until the stock troughed on April 8.
In the second quarter, Tesla reported it delivered 389,400 vehicles, a 13.5% year-over-year decrease, though shares rose amid the market’s broader rally. A few weeks later, it reported revenue of $22.5 billion, marking its biggest year-over-year decline in at least a decade.
Demand for Teslas has weakened as Musk has become more embroiled in US politics. Tesla investors have long called on Musk to sharpen his focus on his car company.
Late 2024 to January 2025: Musk enters government
President-elect Donald Trump (left) and Tesla CEO Elon MuskJeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Tesla’s wild ride began as Musk became more entangled in US politics. He rose as a staunch public backer of Trump and Republicans during the 2024 campaign, appearing at events and stumping for the president on social media.
After rising on Trump-trade optimism, Tesla’s stock rout began in 2025 after Musk became a “special government employee” shortly after Trump was sworn in. His stint as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency fanned long-running concern among investors that Musk’s attention is too divided.
Tesla stock dropped 37% from Trump’s inauguration through the end of March. The stock declined another 9% in early April amid the broader market sell-off, but saw a sharp reversal after Musk announced he would step back from his role in the Department of Government Efficiency. Tesla ended the month 9% higher.
