Affirm vs. Upstart: How a $10,000 Bet Grew to $40,212 or Shrank to $8,543

As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 15, 2026.

the fintech-lending duel · 3y 6:00pm ET

$10K invested in each — worth today:

AFRM$40.2K4.0×

UPST$8.5K0.8×

Same sector, same $10,000, three years apart in outcome: Affirm turned it into $40,212 while Upstart left $8,543, still below where it started. Which fintech lender you owned decided the outcome.

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Since October 16, 2023, a $10,000 stake in Affirm grew to $40,212 while the same amount in Upstart eroded to $8,543.

Two fintech lenders in the same corner of consumer credit, one identical holding period, and only one of them beat cash.

Affirm held most of its gains through sharp pullbacks while Upstart's rallies kept fading back into the red.

Owning the fintech-lending sector broadly was not enough: the company you picked decided the outcome.

Sources

Mentioned: AFRM, UPST

Related Market Updates

AFRM Affirm

Regular session

3:20pm ET

$75.35

+10.00% open $68.50

A 10% intraday climb to $75.35 adds roughly $2 billion to a $22.4 billion fintech in a single session. Moves this size rarely settle quietly here, so keep an eye on the stock into the close.

UPST Upstart

Regular session

2:40pm ET

$23.84

+6.74% open $22.33

A 6.7% intraday climb to $23.84 adds roughly $145 million to a $2.3 billion company, the kind of single-session swing that defines this lender's tape. Keep an eye on whether it holds the gain into the close.

UPST Upstart

Oct 14, 6:00pm ET

New 52-week low $22.74 -0.3% vs prior low · 2026-10-02

Upstart's new 52-week low at $22.74 takes out the October 2 floor and leaves the lender worth just $2.2 billion. It is the second new low in under two weeks.

AFRM Affirm

Regular session

Oct 14, 1:40pm ET

$69.45

-8.27% open $75.71

An 8.27% intraday slide takes roughly $1.8 billion off Affirm's market value in a single session. Whether the $75.71 open gets reclaimed is the level to keep an eye on.

UPST Upstart

Regular session

Oct 5, 1:40pm ET

$24.34

+6.12% open $22.94

A 6.1% intraday run to $24.35 adds roughly $140 million to a $2.4 billion market cap in a single session. Swings this wide are routine for this lender, so size positions accordingly.

UPST Upstart

Sep 28, 6:00pm ET

New 52-week low $23.03 -3.3% vs prior low · 2026-09-25

Upstart set a new 52-week low at $23.03, 3.28% under the floor it just made on Sept. 25. The AI lender's market cap is down to $2.2 billion, with no support left on the one-year chart.

Biggest movers · At the close Sep 24, 4:11pm ET

Gainers

BRKRBruker$64.13+7.5%
TEMTempus AI$82.15+7.3%
IONQIonQ$45.01+5.8%
AFRMAffirm$71.54+5.1%
METAMeta$778.35+4.6%

Losers

ARMArm$304.35-8.5%
APPSDigital Turbine$10.94-5.2%
GPROGoPro$1.25-4.6%
GMGeneral Motors$80.22-4.2%
SNDKSanDisk$1,753.24-3.5%

Arm's 8.5% slide was the deepest move in a 111-stock priority list at Wednesday's close, with Bruker leading the upside at 7.5%.

AFRM Affirm

After-hours

Aug 28, 4:00pm ET

$79.20

-8.05% open $86.13

Down 8% to $79.20 from an $86.13 open, a single-session reset that lops roughly $2 billion off a $22.9 billion market cap. Whether the $86 level gets reclaimed is the next thing to watch.

Biggest movers · At the close Aug 20, 4:10pm ET

Gainers

MARAMarathon Digital$10.94+13.4%
TEMTempus AI$66.48+8.5%
AAOIApplied Optoelectronics$129.38+5.9%
FUBOfuboTV$10.79+4.4%
CIFRCipher Mining$16.58+4.3%

Losers

WMTWalmart$103.1-9.8%
IQiQIYI$1.04-8.0%
ACHRArcher Aviation$6.04-6.4%
UPSTUpstart$28.82-5.8%
IONQIonQ$41.39-4.5%

A near 10% single-day drop in a mega-cap retailer like Walmart, closing at $103.10, is the kind of move that rarely shows up on a leaderboard next to small caps. Marathon Digital ran the other way, up 13.37%, with Cipher Mining also in the green.

Biggest movers · At the close Aug 19, 4:10pm ET

Gainers

TEMTempus AI$60.68+22.9%
HIMSHims & Hers$30.74+12.2%
GPROGoPro$0.64+7.5%
SMRNuScale Power$9.24+6.9%
UPSTUpstart$30.97+6.4%

Losers

IQiQIYI$1.12-9.2%
DOCNDigitalOcean$116.16-7.3%
DELLDell Technologies$436.24-6.9%
APPSDigital Turbine$11.32-6.6%
AAOIApplied Optoelectronics$122.85-6.5%

Tempus AI ended the day up 22.93% at $60.68, the standout in a 110-name priority list where nothing else gained more than 13%. Hardware and infrastructure names took the other side, with Dell shedding 6.92% to $436.24.