NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 08:04 ET — Premarket
- MARA shares were up 0.1% in premarket trade after ending Tuesday down 1.7%. 1
- A regulatory filing showed the bitcoin miner registered 33 million additional shares for employee equity awards. 2
- Bitcoin was last up about 0.9%, keeping crypto-linked stocks in focus into the year-end session.
MARA Holdings, Inc. shares edged up 0.1% to $9.34 in premarket trading on Wednesday after the bitcoin miner filed to register new shares for employee compensation. 1
The filing matters now because MARA and its peers often trade as high-beta proxies for bitcoin, and liquidity can be thin into year-end, amplifying moves on small shifts in risk appetite. 3
“Year-end de-risking, record ETF outflows, and thin holiday liquidity are keeping the market subdued,” said Wintermute strategist Jasper de Mare in a note on Tuesday. 3
MARA’s Form S-8 registers an additional 33 million shares for issuance under its amended 2018 equity incentive plan, bringing the total shares reserved under the plan to 63 million, the filing showed. (An S-8 is a registration statement used to issue stock to employees under benefit plans.) 2
While such registrations do not mean shares are immediately sold, they can raise investor sensitivity to potential dilution over time, particularly when a stock is already under pressure. 2
Bitcoin was last at about $88,662, up roughly 0.9% from the prior close, after struggling to hold higher levels in recent sessions. 3
Other U.S.-listed crypto plays were softer in early trading: Riot Platforms fell about 3.8%, CleanSpark slid about 2.9%, and Core Scientific was down about 3.1%. Coinbase was off about 0.9%.
Traders have also been watching derivatives positioning. De Mare pointed to year-end tax-related flows and noted that falling bitcoin open interest can signal short covering rather than new bullish leverage. (Open interest is the number of outstanding futures and options contracts.) 3
For MARA, the next near-term driver is whether bitcoin can reclaim and hold the $90,000 area and whether ETF flows and broader risk sentiment stabilize as January liquidity returns. 3
On the stock, MARA closed Tuesday at $9.33 and has traded as low as $9.31 over the past 52 weeks, leaving it near the bottom of its annual range. 1
The company has not listed any upcoming events on its investor calendar. 4
