Bitcoin mining stocks felt the pain today as the broader market reacted to a third straight day of declines for Bitcoin.
Many major miners are losing double-digit percentages, with Bitfarms ($BITF) leading losses down over 18%. Riot Platforms ($RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings ($MARA) also saw sharp declines of 10%-11%, while Hut 8 and Strategy followed with smaller declines.
The pullback has put a dent in the momentum miners had enjoyed over the past few months, when strong BTC prices and expanding hash rates propelled the sector to multi-year highs.
Despite the rough day, much of the Bitcoin mining sector is significantly in the green during the week, with the likes of Applied Digital and Cipher Mining jumping 3-4x in the last year.
According to bitcoinminingstocks.io (image below), a large portion of bitcoin mining industry stocks ended the day in the red, some by more than 10%.
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Bitcoin mining stocks often follow bitcoin’s direct price action. Today, bitcoin fell to the $107,000 range, resulting in many BTC mining stocks closing in the red.
This price action follows two weeks in which over $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated, forcing more than 1.6 million traders out of their positions as cascading margin calls swept across exchanges. Investors are watching closely to see if miners can stabilize or if further BTC weakness will drive more pain across the space.
Earlier this week, Bitcoin mining stocks extended their multi-month rally, pushing the sector’s combined market cap above $90 billion — more than double from two months prior. Bitdeer Technologies led the way with a 30% increase after reporting a 32.9% increase in realized hash rate and mining 452 BTC in September.
Crypto stocks were also crushed
Crypto-related stocks were in the red on Thursday as selling pressure hit across the sector. Coinbase (COIN) fell 1.8% to $330.25, extending its recent slide along with the broader crypto market.
Robinhood ( HOOD ) also fell 2.0% to $131.44 as risk appetite among retail investors continued to wane. Strategy (MSTR) fell 4.3% on the day.
Bitcoin miners are companies that operate massive bitcoin mining operations – many powered by renewable energy – where they validate transactions and earn bitcoin rewards. Their profitability depends heavily on bitcoin’s price, mining efficiency and energy costs.
In recent months, more have begun to diversify by repurposing their computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence and other high-performance data center services.