New York, March 2, 2026, 15:01 EST — Regular session
- IREN slipped 0.3% to $40.85 in afternoon trade, paring losses from an earlier drop. The stock has moved between $40.51 and $41.19 so far.
- Bitcoin climbed 4.5% to roughly $68,949, giving a bump to some mining stocks. Marathon added 7.7%. Riot barely moved.
- Friday’s U.S. jobs report is shaping up as the next key gauge for traders sizing up risk appetite.
IREN Ltd shares barely budged Monday, despite a bitcoin rally that left the crypto miner-turned-AI data center operator trailing behind several sector peers.
This setup is key because the stock moves on two different narratives—crypto volatility on one hand, and investor uncertainty about the winners and losers in artificial intelligence on the other. “There is very little definitive right now,” said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, speaking to Reuters about the shifting action in AI-linked stocks. 1
Coming up on the macro front: the U.S. Labor Department’s February jobs report lands Friday, March 6, at 8:30 a.m. ET. That one has a history of shaking up Treasury yields, the dollar, and “risk” trades—including moves that frequently seep into crypto and related equities. 2
No new company headlines have shaken things up in the last day. Over on IREN’s investor relations page, the latest SEC filing posted is still dated Feb. 13. 3
The last major update landed with IREN’s quarterly numbers on Feb. 5, as the company announced it was reallocating mining capacity away from bitcoin and into AI cloud projects, flagging GPU financing linked to its Microsoft partnership. (GPUs—graphics processing units—power the training and deployment of AI models.) “We are seeing the strongest demand environment to date,” co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts said. 4
Reuters reported that Microsoft inked a five-year deal with IREN in November, securing access to Nvidia’s high-end chips. The agreement comes with a catch: if IREN fails to meet delivery deadlines, Microsoft can walk away. 5
There’s been steady action despite a quiet headline day. IREN started the session sharply under its previous close, then fought its way back throughout trading. Bitcoin, meanwhile, drifted just under $70,000, chopping around between $65,000 and $69,900 during the day.
Peer performance was split. Marathon Digital posted stronger gains; Riot Platforms held steady. CleanSpark added ground.
IREN traders seeking bitcoin exposure are eyeing if the coin’s rebound lasts through the U.S. close. On the AI side, it’s all about financing details and how quickly construction moves—plus, there’s the question of whether major customers will stick around if timetables slide.
Of course, there’s a clear risk: bitcoin has a habit of snapping back, and those “AI cloud” names won’t cash in until the promised capacity actually arrives and gets paid for. A sudden turn in risk appetite—or a swift spike in yields—could knock both pillars of the trade at the same time.
All eyes shift to Friday’s U.S. jobs data (March 6), while bitcoin hovers near the $69,000 mark, traders watching to see if it holds steady into the next session. 2
