New York, Feb 4, 2026, 12:52 ET — Regular session
- MARA shares dropped nearly 11% by midday, continuing the rollercoaster ride tied to crypto market swings
- Bitcoin dropped close to 4%, dragging mining stocks down across the board
- Filings revealed that share withholdings were linked to executive stock-unit vesting rather than open-market sales
MARA Holdings shares tumbled roughly 11% on Wednesday, closing near $8.02, following a steep plunge in Bitcoin that hit crypto-related stocks hard.
Bitcoin slipped almost 4% to about $72,300. That drop hits miners quickly—revenues track the coin’s price, but many expenses stay constant.
Peers tumbled together. Riot Platforms slid roughly 10%, while CleanSpark plunged close to 13%, highlighting how traders are viewing the group as a high-beta stand-in for crypto’s swings.
Late Tuesday, MARA filed three Form 4 disclosures linked to company insiders. The stock was already feeling the heat from the broader crypto downturn.
The filings revealed that CEO Fred Thiel, CFO Salman Hassan Khan, and General Counsel Zabi Nowaid had shares withheld at $9.50 each to cover tax bills from restricted stock unit vesting — the forms specified this was “not an open market sale.” MARA
Crypto markets are unusually volatile lately. “Liquidity remains constrained,” said market analyst David Mercer, a factor that leaves prices vulnerable whenever risk appetite wanes. Barron’s
The risk-off mood spilled over into U.S. stocks, as investors pulled back from some tech names following another round of selling in software and cloud sectors.
Bitcoin slipped under $73,000 late Tuesday, with some traders watching the mid-$70,000 zone closely as crucial support. Should that break, miners could see steeper declines.
One key short-term variable is “mining difficulty” — the network parameter that determines how tough it is to secure a block. The upcoming adjustment is slated for Feb. 7, with forecasts indicating a drop in difficulty. That would boost margins, assuming the coin’s price remains steady. CoinWarz
Traders are now eyeing U.S. data releases shuffled by the government shutdown: the Labor Department’s January jobs report will drop Feb. 11, January’s CPI lands Feb. 13, and December’s JOLTS figures arrive Feb. 5.
