New York, Feb 19, 2026, 15:54 EST — Regular session
- IREN climbed 1.8% to $42.83 late Thursday, bouncing back from an earlier dip to $40.15.
- Cantor Fitzgerald sharply increased its IREN stake by the close of 2025, a filing showed.
- Traders have their eye on IREN, which is set for MSCI USA Index inclusion on Feb. 27.
Shares of IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) climbed Thursday, following a regulatory filing that revealed Cantor Fitzgerald had increased its position in the AI data-center and bitcoin-mining firm. The stock traded 1.8% higher at $42.83 as of 3:39 p.m. EST.
IREN is suddenly in the spotlight as a high-beta stand-in for two trades on the move: crypto and AI infrastructure. With its addition to the MSCI USA Index coming up in late February, more passive and event-driven investors are tuning in.
Form 13F filings have a knack for shaking up sentiment, especially in less widely held stocks. These quarterly reports, submitted by big investment managers, lay out a snapshot of their U.S.-listed equity holdings.
Cantor Fitzgerald disclosed in a Form 13F, filed Feb. 17 for the quarter ending Dec. 31, that it held 3,469,904 shares of IREN worth roughly $131 million. The document also showed put options linked to 5,025,000 IREN shares—these contracts, which often serve as a hedge, generally rise in value when the stock declines. 1
Cantor Fitzgerald’s amended quarterly filing for the period ending Sept. 30 reveals it was holding 136,481 IREN shares, valued at roughly $6.4 million. That marks a significant jump in exposure during the quarter. 2
IREN shares bounced between $40.15 and $43.11 on Thursday. The move came as U.S.-listed crypto miners rose alongside a stronger bitcoin price.
Bitcoin climbed roughly 1.2% to approach $67,000. Shares of Riot Platforms and MARA Holdings were also higher, each gaining several percentage points during the afternoon session.
IREN has been touting its AI compute ambitions, and on Tuesday named data-center engineer John Gross as chief innovation officer—a newly created post centered on engineering standards, thermal architecture, and commissioning at the company’s next-gen sites. Co-CEO Daniel Roberts called Gross “instrumental” to the development of IREN’s engineering standards. 3
Gross describes IREN as “at the intersection of power, infrastructure, and compute.” As AI workloads ramp up in size and heat, he says, cooling design is turning into a bigger factor. Liquid cooling is outpacing air systems when it comes to pulling heat off high-powered chips, and that tech is now a top constraint for new AI data centers.
Earlier this month, IREN announced it locked in $3.6 billion in GPU financing for its Microsoft contract, with an interest rate coming in under 6% annually. The company also said a $1.9 billion prepayment from Microsoft would largely offset GPU-related expenses. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, IREN reported revenue of $184.7 million and booked a net loss of $155.4 million. 4
The company said Bitcoin mining accounted for the bulk of revenue, pulling in $167.4 million. AI cloud services brought in $17.3 million as deployments accelerated. IREN has set its sights on $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue, or ARR—a run-rate figure based on annualized contracted sales. That target, though, isn’t locked in; it relies on timely delivery and commissioning of GPUs.
The calendar’s about to turn to a key milestone for IREN: the company joins the MSCI USA Index after the bell on Feb. 27. According to Roberts, this inclusion points to the “scale and liquidity” IREN has put together. It could also expand institutional access as the company pushes deeper into its AI cloud strategy. 5
But it’s a double-edged sword. Delays in GPU shipments, holdups with cooling installations, or hiccups in customer agreements — not to mention a sudden drop in bitcoin — could sour sentiment fast. The stock’s already prone to big swings. Eyes now turn to Feb. 27, when index trackers shift positions following IREN’s MSCI inclusion.
