New York, Jan 20, 2026, 12:18 EST — Regular session
- MARA falls roughly 5% by midday, dragged down as bitcoin dips and mining stocks slide
- Filing reveals CEO Fred Thiel’s trust intends to offload 27,505 shares under Rule 144
- Traders are eyeing the next insider report and Bitcoin’s upcoming move
Shares of MARA Holdings dropped roughly 5% Tuesday following a regulatory filing revealing that CEO Fred Thiel’s trust intended to offload shares, deepening the selloff in bitcoin-related stocks.
The move is significant since MARA frequently acts as a high-beta stand-in for bitcoin. Insider sale announcements tend to rattle sentiment, especially when crypto prices are already volatile. Bitcoin slipped roughly 3% during the day.
By 12:18 p.m. EST, MARA shares had dropped 5.1% to $10.78, with roughly 24.7 million shares changing hands, market data showed.
Peers slipped as well: Riot Platforms dropped roughly 3%, CleanSpark fell about 2%, and Hut 8 lost just under 1%.
A Form 144 filed on Jan. 20 revealed that Thiel, who serves as an officer and director, intended to sell 27,505 shares of MARA common stock via Fidelity Brokerage Services. The total market value of the shares was reported at $297,054.
The filing revealed the shares are held in the Thiel Living Trust and that the trade was executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan — a prearranged setup to prevent trading on material non-public info — which was established on May 28, 2025.
The notice also revealed earlier trust sales from the past three months: 27,505 shares sold on Nov. 17, 2025, followed by another 27,505 shares on Dec. 17, 2025.
Form 144 serves as the SEC’s notice for specific planned sales of restricted or “control” securities under Rule 144. SEC
MARA, once known as Marathon Digital Holdings, operates as a bitcoin miner and runs data centers. Its stock typically moves in line with fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices.
But the setup works both ways: a bitcoin rebound usually triggers a quick recovery among miners. On the flip side, if crypto selling intensifies, the sector can take a sharp hit. Headlines about insider sales don’t help either, even when those trades are planned well in advance.
Traders are now eyeing bitcoin’s next move, while waiting to see if a follow-up Form 4 insider filing appears soon, revealing whether the sale went through and at what prices.
