Bitcoin Mining Stocks Surge: Will Pure Play Miners Reprice Like AI/HPC Companies?

Pure-play bitcoin mining stocks are experiencing a significant awakening after trailing behind companies transitioning to the booming data center industry. Leading miners including MARA Holdings (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) jumped 10% and 17% respectively on Thursday, driving gains within the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF. Two primary factors appear to be fueling this sharp upward movement. First, investors may be anticipating a strong year-end performance for bitcoin—a historically bullish period. BTC is approaching $118,000 following the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut, rising 2.2% on Thursday and trading just 5% below its all-time high. With improving market sentiment, miners holding substantial BTC reserves—such as MARA (52,477 BTC worth $6.2B) and CleanSpark (12,703 BTC worth $1.5B)—could serve as leveraged plays on bitcoin’s potential record rally. Second, profit rotation from high-flying AI and high-performance computing (HPC) mining stocks may be driving capital into bitcoin miners. While IREN, CIFR, and BITF have seen massive gains recently—with BITF up 150% in September and IREN rising over 600% since April—CIFR fell 7% and IREN dropped 4% on Thursday, suggesting a possible sector rotation.