New York, February 26, 2026, 07:23 ET — Premarket
MARA Holdings, Inc. shares slipped roughly 1.2% to $8.57 after Wednesday’s session wrapped. Early Thursday, bitcoin pushed higher by around 4%, trading near $68,200.
Timing is key here. Bitcoin miners act as a high-octane bet on the coin’s price, and the line between a decent quarter and a rough one often hinges on power bills, how much their rigs are running, and when management decides to unload bitcoin.
In a filing Wednesday, MARA tweaked the form agreements it hands out for restricted stock units and performance-based awards, a subtle move but one that caught traders’ attention. Fresh performance grants are now pegged to 2026 goals for “Economic Triad” megawatt capacity and annual recurring revenue, while a separate hurdle for stock performance and payout caps also come into play, according to the document. (MARA)
Zacks Equity Research is projecting MARA to report a fourth-quarter 2025 loss of 23 cents per share, with revenue landing around $223.9 million, based on a note out this week on Nasdaq.com. (Nasdaq)
Crypto-linked stocks are also being pushed around by wider risk sentiment. “The needle has clearly shifted” on major spending themes that investors are watching, said Raffi Boyadjian, lead market analyst at Trading Point, in a note on U.S. markets. (Reuters)
Late Wednesday, Riot Platforms held steady, while CleanSpark rose roughly 2% in mixed action among peers.
With MARA, what gets attention is bitcoin output, the mining cost per coin, and shifts in hashrate — that’s the computing muscle behind bitcoin mining. Investors are also tracking the company’s bitcoin stash compared to what it’s selling off, reading between the lines for clues about how new rigs and power agreements might be financed.
But there’s risk on the flip side. If bitcoin pulls back, network difficulty climbs, or electricity costs spike, margins can quickly shrink—miners feel the pinch even if the broader market stays calm.
MARA plans to hold its results call at 5 p.m. ET this Thursday, per its investor relations calendar. For now, the key trigger is whatever drops after the bell, plus management’s commentary on scale, costs, and whether they lay out any concrete steps toward more stable revenue outside mining. (MARA)
