MARA Stock Today (Dec. 23, 2025): MARA Holdings Slides With Bitcoin Below $88,000 as Analysts Watch the AI Data‑Center Pivot

MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA)—still widely known by its former name, Marathon Digital—was trading in the high single digits to low $10 range on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, as Bitcoin slipped below the $88,000 level and broader “risk appetite” wobbled amid fresh U.S. macro data. By late morning, MARA shares were quoted around $9.86, down from a $10.13 previous close, with an intraday range roughly $9.82–$10.06 and a 52‑week range of $9.61–$23.45. ^[1]

For investors, the setup is familiar and weirdly elegant in its brutality: when Bitcoin fades, miners often fall harder—because miners are effectively leveraged to (1) the coin price, (2) network difficulty, and (3) their own cost structure. But 2025’s twist is that miners like MARA are trying to become something else at the same time: not just “Bitcoin miners,” but power-and-compute operators leaning into AI and high‑performance computing (HPC) narratives.

Below is what’s moving MARA stock right now, what the company has most recently disclosed about operations, and how today’s analyst forecasts stack up as of 12/23/2025.

Why MARA stock is under pressure on Dec. 23, 2025

1) Bitcoin is back in “risk-off” territory

Bitcoin dipped below $88,000 early Tuesday, a move noted across market coverage alongside strength in gold and mixed equity futures—classic “risk-off-ish” vibes for the day before the day before the holiday lull. ^[2]

That matters because MARA’s business is still fundamentally tied to Bitcoin economics: the company produces Bitcoin, holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, and markets itself around the idea of converting energy into economic value via blockchain compute. ^[3]

2) Macro data isn’t helping high-volatility assets

U.S. markets were digesting a stronger-than-expected Q3 GDP reading (reported in live market coverage Tuesday), which pushed traders to rethink the timing and pace of rate cuts—usually not a tailwind for speculative or high-beta corners like crypto-linked equities. ^[4]

3) Bitcoin’s 2025 “rollercoaster” is ending with investors more cautious

Reuters has highlighted that Bitcoin’s correlation with equities strengthened in 2025 as more traditional investors entered crypto—meaning macro sentiment can hit both stocks and crypto simultaneously. Reuters also noted Bitcoin peaked above roughly $126,000 in early October before struggling to regain footing. ^[5]

That correlation shift is important for MARA holders: if Bitcoin trades more like a risk asset tied to rates and growth expectations, miners can behave less like “idiosyncratic crypto plays” and more like “turbocharged risk-on/risk-off instruments.”

What MARA actually is in 2025 (and why the definition is changing)

On its Reuters company profile, MARA describes itself as a digital asset compute company focused on securing blockchain infrastructure while also supporting “energy transformation” by converting underutilized energy into value. It also references selling data-center infrastructure (including immersion-cooled systems) and positioning compute as dispatchable load for grid balancing. ^[6]

That framing matters because one of the biggest debates around crypto-adjacent public companies right now is whether they’re “operating companies” or “asset vehicles wearing an operating-company costume.”

MARA is loudly arguing it’s the former.

MARA’s most recent operational snapshot: hashrate, Bitcoin holdings, revenue

In its Q3 2025 shareholder letter (filed as an exhibit to an 8‑K on Nov. 4, 2025), MARA reported:

Record revenue of $252.4 million in Q3 2025 (up 92% year over year). ^[7]
Adjusted EBITDA of $395.6 million in Q3 2025 (vs. $22.3 million in Q3 2024, per the letter). ^[8]
Energized hashrate of 60.4 EH/s at quarter end (up 64% from 36.9 EH/s a year earlier). ^[9]
Bitcoin holdings of 52,850 BTC as of Sept. 30, 2025 (including BTC loaned/actively managed/pledged as collateral), described as approximately $6.0B at that time. ^[10]
BTC mined: 2,144 BTC in Q3 2025, with 633 blocks won. ^[11]
Power economics: the letter states a cost per kWh of $0.04 for owned sites in Q3 2025, and a “purchased energy cost per bitcoin” of $39,235 (noted as higher than the year-ago figure due to increased network difficulty). ^[12]

If you’re trying to translate “EH/s” into plain English: think of hashrate as the company’s share of the global computing race that secures Bitcoin and earns block rewards. More hashrate generally means more potential production—though the network difficulty adjusts, so it’s never a simple “more computers = more profit” equation.

MARA also reiterated a target of 75 EH/s energized hashrate by year-end 2025—which, as of Dec. 23, is now a “days-not-months” countdown. ^[13]

The AI/HPC pivot: why miners are chasing data-center revenue

If 2024–2025 was “miners industrialize,” late 2025 is “miners mutate.”

WIRED reported that multiple publicly traded Bitcoin miners—including MARA—have announced plans to pivot partly or wholly toward AI and HPC, motivated by margin pressure in mining and intense demand for powered data-center capacity. ^[14]

Reuters put the same trend more bluntly: after the crypto downturn hit hyped sectors hard, miners (including MARA) have faced setbacks and are pivoting to AI data centers, but investors are also scrutinizing profitability, debt loads, and the cash needs required to execute the switch. ^[15]

What MARA says it’s doing (not just what the narrative says)

In that same Q3 shareholder letter, MARA described concrete steps:

It deployed the first ten AI inference racks at its Granbury site in a modular, non-water-cooled containerized data center. ^[16]
It said the Granbury site has 300 MW nameplate capacity, suggesting optionality to support both mining and AI workloads. ^[17]
It highlighted an agreement to acquire a roughly 64% stake in Exaion (a subsidiary of EDF), valuing the transaction and capital injection at about $168 million, with an option to increase ownership later. ^[18]
It described a collaboration with MPLX to develop integrated power generation and data-center campuses in West Texas, with initial capacity expected around ~400 MW and potential expansion beyond that. ^[19]

In a separate December 15, 2025 letter responding to MSCI’s proposed index-methodology changes, MARA emphasized the scale of its physical footprint, stating that as of Sept. 30, 2025 it had about 1.8 GW of energy capacity and operated 18 data centers across four continents. ^[20]

The big strategic bet is straightforward to say and hard to do: convert “volatile Bitcoin mining revenue” into “more contract-like data-center revenue” without destroying the cost advantage that made the mining business work in the first place.

Index and methodology risk: MSCI’s “digital asset treasury” debate

One of the most consequential “quiet risks” for crypto-adjacent equities heading into 2026 is index eligibility.

Reuters reported that MSCI proposed excluding from global benchmarks companies whose digital asset holdings are 50% or more of total assets, arguing they resemble investment funds. MSCI was expected to announce a decision by January 15 following a public consultation. ^[21]

While that Reuters piece focused heavily on “digital asset treasury” firms like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the broader theme matters for the ecosystem: index methodology can influence passive ownership, liquidity, and cost of capital—especially for companies that raise money through equity issuance. ^[22]

MARA has actively pushed back on being lumped into a “digital asset treasury” bucket, arguing (in its Dec. 15 letter) that it is an operational company with substantial energy-and-data-center infrastructure, and that the proposed 50% threshold would misclassify businesses like its own. ^[23]

A very non-crypto problem: the Granbury noise dispute is still a headline risk

Even if Bitcoin moons tomorrow, operating a large industrial facility near humans creates… human problems.

The Texas Tribune reported on Hood County residents pushing to incorporate a new town in response to noise they attribute to MARA’s nearby facility, describing community tensions and health complaints. The company told the Tribune it brings jobs and tax revenue and said it invested more than $1.2 billion in its Texas sites. ^[24]
Earthjustice said a Texas state court rejected MARA’s motion to dismiss in a nuisance lawsuit over noise, and that residents were seeking documents through discovery regarding equipment, mitigation, and noise data. ^[25]
Spectrum News covered the local vote and described residents saying the issue is not only volume, but the constancy of the sound—while noting that some studies/readings cited in the story suggested levels within the state ordinance limit. ^[26]
MARA’s own Granbury-focused site published third‑party survey claims that sound levels measured around the facility were below legal limits and that levels fell from about 78 dB to 63 dB after the company took operational control (company-provided framing, but part of the public record around the dispute). ^[27]

For MARA stock, this is less about “this quarter’s EPS” and more about operating-license risk: permitting friction, legal costs, political backlash, and the possibility that future sites face tighter constraints.

Insider activity: CEO Fred Thiel’s recent Form 4

On December 19, 2025, MARA posted a Form 4 showing CEO Fred Thiel sold 27,505 shares on Dec. 17, 2025 at $10.77 per share, with the filing stating the sale was made under a Rule 10b5‑1 trading plan adopted May 28, 2025. ^[28]

Insider sales are not automatically bearish—10b5‑1 plans exist specifically to reduce “timing” suspicion—but in a stock this sentiment-driven, traders often notice.

Analyst forecasts for MARA stock on Dec. 23, 2025: big upside, big disagreement

The headline from analyst targets is simple: the Street still sees substantial upside—on paper—relative to today’s price.

StockAnalysis lists 11 analysts with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average 12‑month target around $22.23, with targets spanning roughly $9.50 to $30. ^[29]
Investing.com shows an average 12‑month price target around $22.41, with a high estimate of $30 and a low estimate of $13, and a “Buy” overall rating in its summary. ^[30]
MarketBeat lists a consensus “Moderate Buy” and a price target in the low‑to‑mid $20s (commonly cited around $23.56 on the site). ^[31]

What those targets are really saying

At a ~$10 share price, targets in the low $20s are effectively a thesis that at least one (and ideally several) of these things happen:

Bitcoin stabilizes or recovers meaningfully from the late‑2025 drawdown. ^[32]
MARA reaches (or stays close to) its stated hashrate goals while keeping electricity economics competitive. ^[33]
The market assigns real value to MARA’s AI/HPC transition, treating it less like a miner and more like a data-center/power platform. ^[34]

Notably, Bitcoin price forecasts themselves remain widely dispersed. For example, MarketWatch reported Citi’s base-case forecast calling for Bitcoin around $143,000 in 2026, while also outlining bullish and bearish scenarios—illustrating how much the miner outlook can hinge on macro + flows + sentiment. ^[35]

What matters next for MARA investors heading into 2026

As of December 23, 2025, the near-term checklist for MARA stock looks like this:

Bitcoin’s trend into year-end: miners can rally violently on even modest BTC rebounds, but the reverse is also true. ^[36]
Execution proof on AI/HPC: more disclosed capacity, counterparties, uptime commitments, and economics—ideally with revenue that looks less like “crypto weather” and more like “contracts.” ^[37]
MSCI methodology decision (by Jan. 15, 2026) and any broader index-provider follow-through. ^[38]
Ongoing community/legal developments around Granbury and how they shape the “social license to operate.” ^[39]
Next earnings date: Investing.com lists MARA’s next earnings report for March 4, 2026. ^[40]

Bottom line

MARA stock on 12/23/2025 is a live experiment in modern market mythology: a Bitcoin miner trying to evolve into a power-and-compute platform at the exact moment Bitcoin is wobbling and investors are demanding cleaner narratives, clearer cash flows, and fewer “trust me, bro” assumptions.

If Bitcoin rebounds sharply, MARA can move fast—its operating leverage works both ways. But the company’s longer-term re-rating case increasingly depends on whether its AI/HPC initiatives become more than pilot racks and strategic language, and whether it can expand without running into the practical constraints of regulation, local politics, and capital costs.