New York, Feb 28, 2026, 14:32 EST — The market is now closed.
- IREN slipped 7.44% to close at $40.95 on Friday, after moving in a range from $39.54 to $43.09.
- The stock is set to join the MSCI USA Index when markets close on Feb. 27, prompting index funds to adjust their holdings.
- Bitcoin edged down near $65,000 on Friday, with traders pulling back from riskier assets.
IREN Limited ended Friday at $40.95, dropping 7.44%, then slid another 0.6% after hours before the weekend break and next week’s U.S. market reopening. Volume jumped to 52.7 million shares, nearly twice Thursday’s 26.7 million.
Bitcoin miner and AI cloud firm IREN moved closer to a long-expected index milestone this month. The company announced it will join the MSCI USA Index after markets close on Feb. 27. Co-CEO Daniel Roberts said the move “reflects the scale and liquidity we have built in the business.” GlobeNewswire
Why now? MSCI’s USA Index tracks large- and mid-cap U.S. stocks and, according to MSCI, captures roughly 85% of the U.S. market’s free-float adjusted value. That’s significant: funds tracking the index typically buy or sell stocks to match any changes in its lineup.
The crypto market hasn’t stood still. Bitcoin dropped 5.98%, landing near $63,650 early Friday, according to Investing.com. Nexo Dispatch’s Iliya Kalchev said the market is “compressing within a liquidity-constrained environment where leverage appetite remains subdued.” Investing.com
Peer performance split. MARA Holdings climbed close to 6% Friday following news of a data-center deal linked to its AI ambitions. TeraWulf, on the other hand, dropped over 9% after its earnings report. Investor’s Business Daily pegged bitcoin at about $65,600 to close out the week.
IREN is working to expand its focus beyond just crypto mining. In its most recent quarterly filing with the SEC on Feb. 5, the company posted $184.7 million in revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Of that, bitcoin mining brought in $167.4 million, while AI cloud services added another $17.3 million. The period ended with a net loss of $155.4 million. The same update disclosed that IREN lined up $3.6 billion in GPU financing tied to a Microsoft contract, and it kept its target for $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue — ARR, a run-rate metric — by the close of 2026. “We are seeing the strongest demand environment to date,” Roberts said at the time. SEC
But getting added to an index doesn’t promise constant buying. Sometimes, the rebalancing sparks a single day of activity. After that, what happens next for the stock depends on crypto’s moves, appetite for leveraged risk, and whether the company can actually turn AI interest into delivered capacity—without tripping over financing gaps or build delays.
Monday brings a test for IREN following its index reshuffle, as traders eye whether the stock steadies. Bitcoin, too, faces scrutiny to see if it maintains its footing after a weekend that’s typically thin on liquidity.
The week isn’t short on events. ISM Manufacturing PMI lands at 10:00 a.m. EST on the month’s first business day, while the February U.S. jobs report hits Friday, March 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Both have the potential to jolt yields and risk sentiment, with knock-on effects for crypto-exposed stocks.
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