IREN Limited (formerly Iris Energy Limited) – the Australian-born Bitcoin miner turned AI data‑center operator – remains one of the most closely watched names in the “AI infrastructure” trade. On Wednesday, November 26, 2025, the stock is digesting weeks of explosive moves driven by its $9.7 billion Microsoft GPU cloud contract, record quarterly results and a flood of new institutional and derivatives activity. [1]
Below is a rundown of today’s key developments around IREN, how the stock is trading, and what the latest newsflow might signal next.
IREN stock price today: volatility cools, but the ride is still wild
As of the latest quote on Wednesday, IREN Limited shares are trading around $47–$48 on Nasdaq, up modestly on the day after an early dip. Intraday so far, the stock has moved roughly between $46.7 and $49.5 with volume just under 12 million shares, underscoring that liquidity – and volatility – remain elevated. [2]
Even after November’s pullback, IREN is still up several hundred percent year‑to‑date, putting it among the best‑performing U.S.-listed infrastructure names of 2025. Over the last 52 weeks the stock has traded in an extraordinarily wide band, from about $5.13 at the lows to nearly $77 at the highs. [3]
Short‑term, the tape has calmed down compared with early November:
- After the Microsoft deal headlines in early November, IREN spiked to record levels before sliding more than 10–12% on profit‑taking and a JPMorgan downgrade.
- Over the past week, daily moves have ranged from a +14–15% surge (on renewed AI enthusiasm) to single‑digit pullbacks as traders reassess valuations. [4]
In other words, IREN is no longer going straight up – but it is still trading like a high‑beta AI/crypto hybrid, not a sleepy utility.
Fresh November 26, 2025 news investors are watching
1. DNB Asset Management sharply boosts its IREN stake
One of today’s most concrete data points is fresh 13F‑style disclosure: DNB Asset Management AS has more than doubled its position in IREN.
- DNB increased its holdings by 133.9%, to 109,601 shares, worth about $1.6 million at the time of filing.
- The position represents roughly 0.06% of IREN’s shares outstanding.
- Several other institutions have recently added or initiated positions, and total institutional ownership now sits around 41% of the float, according to MarketBeat and related filings. [5]
For a stock often characterized as “retail‑driven,” that growing institutional base is notable. It suggests that, despite the volatility and headline risk, professional money managers see the Microsoft deal and AI pivot as more than a short‑term trading story.
2. European coverage: “Shares slide despite major billion‑dollar contract”
A European market wrap published today highlights the tension between IREN’s blockbuster fundamentals and its recent price weakness.
The report notes that IREN shares are under pressure even as the company touts a multi‑billion‑dollar GPU cloud contract, pointing to:
- A wide intraday trading range in the mid‑$40s to high‑$40s
- Heavy trading volume
- Ongoing concerns about execution risk and valuation after the earlier parabolic rally [6]
The headline takeaway: despite a transformative Microsoft agreement, the stock remains vulnerable to sharp sentiment swings – partly because expectations are now extremely high.
3. Factor‑based analysis: IREN screens well on momentum
A factor‑driven “guru” screen published on Nasdaq this morning flags IREN as a standout momentum play:
- The Validea Quantitative Momentum strategy report ranks IREN highly on price momentum and trend persistence, meeting most of the model’s tests to qualify as a momentum candidate. [7]
- The analysis classifies IREN as a high‑growth, higher‑risk tech/infrastructure name, but notes that its relative strength versus the broader market remains strong even after the recent dip.
For quant and factor investors, that keeps IREN squarely on the radar as a tradable momentum stock rather than a spent story.
4. AI‑driven ratings: algorithms still like the risk‑reward
AI‑powered analytics platform Danelfin updated its IREN Ltd profile today, with data current through November 26, 2025. The site:
- Assigns IREN an above‑average AI score versus peers,
- Shows reasonably strong technical and fundamental sub‑scores, and
- Labels near‑term risk as relatively moderate compared with other high‑beta tech names. [8]
While methodologies differ, the fact that both human and machine‑driven frameworks are still flagging IREN as attractive (albeit volatile) reinforces the idea that the bull case has not evaporated with November’s correction.
5. Options market: bullish skew, very high implied volatility
Today’s options tape around IREN is anything but quiet. A StreetInsider options note published early Wednesday reports that: [9]
- 30‑day implied volatility sits around 115, near the upper half of its 52‑week range (75–141) – a clear sign traders expect big moves.
- The call/put ratio is about 1.4:1, meaning more bullish call contracts than bearish puts are trading.
- Despite that, the aggregated analyst rating shown in the note is “SELL/Flat”, reflecting the split between bullish and bearish Wall Street research.
High implied volatility plus call‑heavy positioning typically signals aggressive speculation – great for traders, but painful for anyone uncomfortable with double‑digit swings.
6. New leveraged vehicle: 2x IREN ETF options launch
Another today‑specific headline: new options have been listed on the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long IREN ETF (ticker: IRE), according to a GuruFocus alert dated November 26, 2025. [10]
Key points:
- The ETF targets 2x daily leveraged exposure to IREN.
- It currently carries a market cap of roughly $147 million.
- Technical indicators such as a mid‑40s RSI suggest neither extreme overbought nor oversold conditions right now.
The launch of options on a leveraged ETF tied to one already‑volatile stock is likely to amplify short‑term volatility further, as sophisticated traders gain yet another way to express long or short views on IREN.
The backdrop: Microsoft’s $9.7 billion GPU cloud deal and record Q1 FY26
Today’s incremental headlines sit on top of a still‑fresh fundamental story that has transformed how the market values IREN.
The Microsoft AI cloud contract
On November 3, 2025, Reuters reported that Microsoft signed a five‑year, $9.7 billion cloud deal with IREN that includes access to Nvidia’s advanced GB300 GPUs delivered via Dell. [11]
Key contract details from company and analyst commentary:
- 5‑year term with 20% of the contract value prepaid upfront by Microsoft. [12]
- GPUs will be deployed at IREN’s 750 MW Childress, Texas campus, in new liquid‑cooled data centers designed to deliver around 200 MW of critical IT power. [13]
- The deal helps fund a roughly $3 billion “Horizon” build‑out at Childress and is expected to roughly quintuple IREN’s annualized revenue run‑rate once fully ramped, according to Canaccord Genuity. [14]
Canaccord responded by hiking its IREN price target 67%, from $42 to $70, calling the agreement a turning point that pushes the company firmly into the AI infrastructure big leagues. [15]
Q1 FY26: record results and a roadmap to $3.4 billion ARR
Earlier this month, IREN reported Q1 FY26 results (for the quarter ended September 30, 2025) that stunned even bullish observers: [16]
- Revenue surged to $240.3 million, up 355% year‑over‑year from $52.8 million.
- Net income swung to a $384.6 million profit versus a $51.7 million loss in the prior year period (boosted in part by derivative gains).
- Adjusted EBITDA jumped to $91.7 million, more than 35x the prior year’s $2.5 million.
Management also laid out an aggressive AI cloud roadmap:
- Targeting $3.4 billion in AI Cloud ARR by the end of 2026, with plans to expand to around 140,000 GPUs.
- The Microsoft contract alone is expected to contribute about $1.9 billion in average annual revenue, with additional multi‑year deals (e.g., with Together AI, Fluidstack and Fireworks AI) contributing hundreds of millions more in contracted ARR. [17]
- IREN’s broader power and data‑center portfolio spans roughly 2.9–3.0 GW of grid‑connected capacity across North America, giving it room to keep scaling high‑density AI workloads. [18]
Put simply: IREN is no longer “just” a green Bitcoin miner; it is repositioning itself as a renewable‑powered GPU cloud and data‑center platform.
Mixed signals from Wall Street: bulls, bears and everything in between
Today’s DNB stake build and bullish factor/AI scores sit against a noisy backdrop of analyst commentary.
Consensus leans bullish – but not unanimous
Data aggregated by QuiverQuant, eToro and other platforms shows: [19]
- Around 8–10 analysts rate IREN a “Buy” or “Outperform”,
- 2+ firms are on “Sell” or “Underweight”, and
- The median 12‑month price target sits in the mid‑$70s, with published targets ranging roughly from $24 on the low end (JPMorgan) to $136 on the high end (Cantor Fitzgerald).
Recent moves include:
- Canaccord Genuity: Buy, $70 target (post‑Microsoft deal). [20]
- Cantor Fitzgerald: Overweight, $136 target. [21]
- Macquarie: Outperform, $86 target. [22]
- JPMorgan: Underweight, target raised from $28 to $39, citing high valuation and dilution risks even after acknowledging AI upside. [23]
Zacks, which earlier in the month named IREN its “Bear of the Day,” has repeatedly warned about extreme volatility and execution risk, even while acknowledging the AI opportunity. [24]
Crypto backdrop: Bitcoin slump vs AI decoupling
All of this is happening against a crypto backdrop where Bitcoin has fallen roughly 30% this month, forcing analysts to rethink models for miners’ profitability. JPMorgan’s latest sector note, for example, recalibrated assumptions for hashrate, revenue per MW and post‑halving margins – while simultaneously highlighting that high‑performance computing (HPC) and AI contracts are increasingly the main driver of upside for hybrid miners like IREN. [25]
The takeaway: IREN’s stock is still tied, emotionally and to some degree fundamentally, to Bitcoin – but the Microsoft deal and AI cloud segment give it a path to decouple over time.
How today’s news fits into IREN’s bigger story
Pulling Wednesday’s headlines together, a few themes stand out:
- Institutional conviction is quietly rising
DNB’s sizable percentage increase in holdings adds to a long list of hedge funds and asset managers that have either initiated or expanded IREN positions since mid‑year. That doesn’t guarantee future performance, but it suggests the shareholder base is becoming more “sticky” and sophisticated. [26] - Derivatives are amplifying the story – in both directions
Elevated implied volatility, a call‑heavy options book and the launch of options on a 2x leveraged IREN ETF mean short‑term moves can easily overshoot in either direction. For anyone considering the stock, today’s options data is a reminder that this is a trader’s playground as much as an investor’s thesis. [27] - Fundamentals are stronger, but execution risk is huge
Record Q1 FY26 results and a $9.7 billion Microsoft contract fundamentally change IREN’s earnings power – but they also introduce new dependencies: on GPU supply, on building and energizing massive data‑center campuses on time, and on Microsoft sticking with the contract if timelines slip. [28] - Valuation debate remains unresolved
With the stock still up several hundred percent year‑to‑date and trading on forward revenue and ARR metrics rather than traditional earnings multiples, analysts are split on whether today’s price is a once‑in‑a‑decade opportunity or already baking in perfection. Wednesday’s factor and AI‑score updates lean bullish, but JPMorgan’s cautious stance and Zacks’ recent skepticism highlight how polarized views are. [29]
What to watch next for IREN stock
Looking beyond today’s tape, here are the key checkpoints most closely tied to IREN’s investment case:
- Microsoft deployment milestones – progress updates from the Childress “Horizon” campus and the ramp‑up schedule for Nvidia GB300 GPUs will be crucial. Any delays could pressure both the stock and the contract economics. [30]
- Sweetwater Hub build‑out – IREN’s planned 2 GW Sweetwater 1 site in Texas is positioned as the next major growth driver once Microsoft capacity is largely spoken for. Investors will watch for firm customer contracts and substation energization timelines through 2026–27. [31]
- AI vs. Bitcoin revenue mix – quarterly reports in 2026 will show whether AI cloud ARR is ramping fast enough to offset potential cyclicality in Bitcoin mining revenues, especially if BTC remains volatile. [32]
- Balance sheet and dilution – after the $1 billion zero‑coupon convertible notes issuance (with a high conversion premium and capped calls), investors will parse how much of IREN’s growth can be funded with internal cash flows and prepayments versus additional equity or debt. [33]
- Regulation and power markets – as IREN leans into multi‑GW power footprints in North America, local energy policy, grid constraints and community pushback could all influence how fast – and where – it can grow. [34]
Bottom line
For November 26, 2025, the story around IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) is one of consolidation rather than capitulation:
- The stock is stabilising in the high‑$40s after a manic November,
- Institutional investors like DNB Asset Management are adding exposure,
- Options and leveraged ETFs are making the name even more of a trader’s favorite, and
- The core thesis – that a once‑obscure Bitcoin miner can morph into a renewable‑powered AI cloud giant – remains intact, but extremely execution‑sensitive. [35]
Anyone following IREN today should keep two truths in mind: the upside could be enormous if the Microsoft contract and GPU build‑out go to plan, and the downside could be just as dramatic if execution, crypto markets or power costs move the wrong way.
This article is for information and news purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Always perform your own research or consult a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. stockanalysis.com, 3. www.marketbeat.com, 4. m.economictimes.com, 5. www.marketbeat.com, 6. www.ad-hoc-news.de, 7. www.nasdaq.com, 8. danelfin.com, 9. www.streetinsider.com, 10. www.gurufocus.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. coincentral.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. coincentral.com, 15. coincentral.com, 16. www.stocktitan.net, 17. www.stocktitan.net, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. www.quiverquant.com, 20. coincentral.com, 21. www.quiverquant.com, 22. www.quiverquant.com, 23. m.economictimes.com, 24. www.nasdaq.com, 25. m.economictimes.com, 26. www.marketbeat.com, 27. www.streetinsider.com, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.nasdaq.com, 30. www.reuters.com, 31. www.stocktitan.net, 32. www.stocktitan.net, 33. www.stocktitan.net, 34. www.stocktitan.net, 35. www.marketbeat.com
