NEW YORK, March 23, 2026, 17:46 EDT
MARA Holdings, Inc. jumped roughly 5% in late Monday trading, catching a tailwind from bitcoin’s move above $70,000 and a renewed appetite for riskier bets after President Donald Trump announced a postponement of strikes on Iranian power plants. Shares traded at $8.91, having hit $9.24 earlier in the session, compared to a prior close near $8.47.
This all comes back to MARA’s deep correlation with bitcoin. The company’s annual report makes it clear: mining is still at the core, and as of the end of 2025, MARA held 53,822 bitcoin. That holding alone keeps its stock price lashed closely to bitcoin’s swings.
The rally Monday came across as more of a sector push rather than traders reacting to new headlines. Shares of Riot Platforms jumped 7.2%, with CleanSpark picking up 6.2%. MARA hasn’t posted fresh news since Feb. 26 on its investor-relations page, and the SEC site lists only insider-related Forms 4 and 144 from March, no new 8-Ks.
Bitcoin climbed roughly 4.5% to $70,938. U.S. equities, Reuters said, turned in their strongest single-day rally since Feb. 6, fueled by a sharp drop in oil—down over 10%—as traders pinned hopes on a cooling Iran conflict. Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder, pointed to “significant optimism” baked into stock prices, even with Tehran rejecting talk rumors. Reuters
The backdrop is key for MARA, whose main business remains bitcoin mining. Reuters’ company profile notes the firm is making a move into artificial intelligence and high-performance computing—HPC for short—industry jargon for big, compute-intensive data center jobs.
The second storyline emerged last month. MARA unveiled plans to work with Starwood Digital Ventures on new sites targeting enterprise, large cloud, and AI clients. CEO Fred Thiel described the facilities as providing “predictable access to energy at scale.” According to both companies, the new platform is expected to deliver around 1 gigawatt of IT capacity in the near term, with the potential to expand past 2.5 GW. MARA
Another near-term event lands on March 25: MARA will take part in Citadel Crypto, Digital Assets & Fintech Thematic Day, per its IR calendar. Management is set for an early opportunity to discuss mining economics and Starwood build-out plans.
Still, the rebound’s cushion looks thin. Iran shot down Trump’s suggestion that negotiations were happening, and Bob Doll at Crossmark Global Investments told Reuters, “it’s all about the price of oil” in the short term—tying MARA’s moves to crude. That means any fresh spike in oil or a pullback in bitcoin could see those gains reverse in a hurry. Reuters
The environment isn’t doing MARA any favors. According to Reuters, the company hauled in $907.1 million in revenue in 2025, but still wound up with a net loss of roughly $1.31 billion. That gap highlights just how vulnerable miners are to sharp moves in crypto prices, energy bills, and the fluctuating value of the coins on their balance sheets.
Monday’s action pointed to investors snapping up bitcoin-linked plays, with company details playing a distant role. MARA, unless it breaks out new developments, could remain at the mercy of bitcoin swings, oil prices, and whatever headlines emerge from the Middle East.
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