New York, Feb 12, 2026, 15:26 EST — Regular session
- IREN dropped roughly 6% in afternoon trading, lagging behind other U.S.-listed crypto mining stocks.
- Bitcoin lost close to 3%, adding to the drag on crypto-related stocks.
- After a volatile stretch for risk assets, traders are on edge ahead of Friday’s U.S. CPI report.
Shares of IREN Limited (IREN.O) dropped 6.1% to $40.06 Thursday afternoon, sliding from an open of $42.56 and hitting a session low of $39.55. Bitcoin slipped roughly 2.7% to $65,559. Elsewhere, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark each lost around 4%.
Sellers stepped in, cutting exposure to riskier assets as anticipation builds for Friday’s U.S. consumer price index numbers. Tech and software names didn’t escape the downdraft either. “We see this as a ‘prove it’ year for AI,” said Jack Herr, primary investment analyst at GuideStone Funds, in comments to Reuters. 1
On Thursday, Treasury yields slipped, with traders rethinking the odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts following the latest jobs data. Jay Hatfield, Infrastructure Capital Advisors CEO and CIO, said “the bull case on the Fed cutting” was now facing pushback. 2
HC Wainwright trimmed its earnings outlook for IREN but kept the “Buy” rating and left the $80 price target intact, according to MarketBeat. Analyst M. Colonnese now projects a Q3 2026 per-share loss of $0.30, wider than his earlier call for a $0.18 loss. For the full year 2026, he’s modeling a $1.12 per-share loss, the note added. 3
IREN shares have swung sharply since last week’s earnings, when it reported a net loss of $155.4 million against $184.7 million in revenue for the December quarter. The company said it locked in $3.6 billion in GPU financing tied to its Microsoft deal and aims to deploy 140,000 graphics processing units—those AI-focused chips—by the close of 2026, in a push to hit $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue. That’s a measure based on contract-backed sales. “We are seeing the strongest demand environment to date,” co-CEO Daniel Roberts said in the statement. 4
Pricing the stock isn’t straightforward. Certain investors treat it as if it’s just another bitcoin miner. Others, though, are waiting to see evidence it can ramp up and utilize AI infrastructure quickly enough to warrant all the money being poured in.
Jitters in crypto are showing. BlockFills, the Chicago crypto lender, paused client deposits and withdrawals as bitcoin slid—underscoring how fast market stress can jam up the system when prices tumble. 5
The risk here’s clear enough: fresh losses in bitcoin could drag miner-related stocks lower again, while stubborn inflation numbers threaten to keep rates elevated—tough for high-beta plays. But if there’s even a hint that AI buildout is ticking along as hoped, traders might pivot right back to chasing that narrative.
Friday brings the U.S. CPI report on Feb. 13. Crypto traders are eyeing bitcoin to see if it can hold its ground. Equity investors, on the other hand, are waiting to see any sign of revived risk appetite.
