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Nvidia’s stock fell hard after reports that Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO. The resignation followed a board investigation into his personal conduct, including allegations of extramarital affairs.
The selloff showed up everywhere Nvidia trades: Nasdaq after-hours, tokenized shares, and crypto-native perpetual futures. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee looked at the damage and said he is buying.
What happened to Nvidia
Huang reportedly admitted to marital infidelity in an internal memo on or around November 8, 2026. According to the reports, one of the relationships was with an executive at a company called Megaspeed.
US officials reportedly viewed that executive as a potential Chinese intelligence asset. That allegation is what moved this from tabloid territory into the national security conversation.
Nvidia’s board launched an independent investigation into Huang’s conduct and brought in outside counsel. So far there has been no immediate indication that national security was compromised.
Huang then stepped down around November 11-12, 2026. CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO and will keep her CFO role at the same time.
The market reaction came quickly. Nvidia shares on the Nasdaq dropped approximately 8% in after-hours trading as the news spread.
The crypto side of the selloff
Some of the earliest and steepest moves happened on crypto rails, not traditional exchanges.
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Nvidia perpetual futures on Hyperliquid fell as much as 10% and touched lows near $156 on November 11, 2026. A perpetual future is a derivative with no expiry date. Traders use it to bet on price direction, often with leverage.
Tokenized Nvidia stock, which trades under the ticker NVDAx, declined up to 9% on the same day. These tokens give holders on-chain exposure tied to Nvidia shares.
Prediction markets also adjusted. Traders there raised the odds of Huang’s departure as the reports piled up, effectively pricing the resignation before it was confirmed.
Tom Lee’s contrarian call
While Nvidia slid, Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee stuck with his view in a note on Thursday.
“We are sticking with the thesis that Technology stocks bottomed last week,” Lee wrote.
“We are sticking with the thesis that Technology stocks bottomed last week,” Lee wrote.
Lee argued that the Nvidia CEO scandal does not change that thesis. His guidance to investors was to buy the dips in technology rather than run from them.
That call lands in a tough tape. The Nvidia news hit during a broader selloff in tech and AI stocks, so the sector was already under pressure before the leadership shock.
What this means for investors
The first issue is key-person risk. The 8% to 10% drop across venues reflects that unwinding, plus uncertainty about what the investigation might still find.
The second issue is governance and regulation. The board says there is no immediate sign national security was compromised, but the probe is ongoing.
Third, the interim structure is worth watching. Kress holding both CFO and CEO duties is a stopgap, not a long-term plan.
For traders in the market’s crypto corner, this episode was a live demonstration of why tokenized stocks and stock perps exist. The 10% move on Hyperliquid and the 9% drop in NVDAx came while the traditional market was closed or thinly traded.
Gaps between venues matter too. Hyperliquid perps fell as much as 10%, NVDAx dropped up to 9%, and the Nasdaq after-hours decline was approximately 8%.
