New York, Jan 12, 2026, 13:54 ET — Regular session
- IREN shares surged roughly 10% in afternoon trading, leaving other listed bitcoin miners behind.
- Bitcoin stayed above $91,000, driving movement in crypto-linked stocks
- Traders have their eyes on Tuesday’s U.S. inflation figures and IREN’s upcoming earnings report
IREN Limited (IREN.O) shares jumped 10.5% to $50.85 in afternoon trading, hitting a session high of $50.95 earlier. The Nasdaq-listed stock climbed $4.82 from Friday’s close, with volume topping 35 million shares.
This shift is significant as crypto-linked stocks kicked off the week reacting to macro headlines once more, ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. inflation report. The Consumer Price Index draws attention because it influences interest rate forecasts and, in turn, risk appetite in volatile market sectors. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Bitcoin climbed roughly 1% to $91,638, giving a boost to miners while broader gains stayed subdued. Marathon Digital jumped around 4.6%, CleanSpark gained about 3.7%, Riot Platforms increased close to 2.4%, and Core Scientific rose near 2.7%.
IREN has ridden a high-beta wave for months, caught between two stories that don’t always align: bitcoin mining cash flows on one hand, and a move into AI-driven data center capacity on the other. Monday’s session tilted toward the “risk-on” camp.
Analysts are shifting focus from pure crypto leverage to AI infrastructure. Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani named IREN “our top AI pick” in a 2026 sector outlook, urging investors to “start 2026 by buying stocks on the dip,” TipRanks reports. (TipRanks)
IREN grabbed headlines late last year when Microsoft inked a five-year cloud contract worth $9.7 billion with the company, which included access to Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips. Reuters reported those chips will roll out in phases through 2026 at IREN’s Childress, Texas campus, where new liquid-cooled data centers are planned to provide roughly 200 megawatts of critical IT power. The deal carries a termination clause if IREN misses delivery deadlines. (Reuters)
This context sheds light on why IREN’s stock swings between behaving like a bitcoin proxy one moment and an AI data-center play the next. When bitcoin rallies, miners usually tag along; when the focus shifts to AI infrastructure, IREN gets lumped in with the “neocloud” expansion talk.
The situation can quickly reverse. A hotter-than-expected CPI reading might drive bond yields up, rattling bitcoin and other speculative bets. That leaves miners vulnerable to steep pullbacks and margin issues, even if there’s no fresh company news.
Traders are eyeing Tuesday’s U.S. inflation data next. After that, the focus shifts to IREN’s next earnings report, which Nasdaq currently projects for Feb. 11. (Nasdaq)
