Tech

Snap closes below $17 IPO price amid fears insiders will dump shares

Key Points
  • Snap shares have tumbled from their March 3 high and on Monday fell below their IPO price for the first time.
  • At the end of the month, insiders can begin selling their shares.
Snap falls below $17 IPO price for first time
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Snap falls below $17 IPO price for first time

Shares of on Monday fell below their IPO price for the first time, just ahead of a crucial period for the social media stock.

Snap dipped to a low of $16.95 before closing at $16.99, just below the $17 price of the .

The shares ended their first day of trading, March 2, up 44 percent to $24.48. The stock hit a high of $29.44 on March 3.

SNAP 5-month performance

Source: FactSet

Snap, which makes the ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, is about to see the end of its lockup period. When that hits at the end of the month, insiders can begin selling their shares.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn fell an average of 24 percent in the 30 days ahead of their lockup expirations, . Snap shares have fallen nearly 19 percent in the past three months, and about 6 percent over the past month.

— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.