Trading volumes for shares of Bitcoin mining companies, particularly Marathon Digital, have soared, topping U.S. mid and large-cap share trading charts. This surge comes just weeks before the anticipated approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
In the last 24 hours, Marathon Digital has witnessed over 105 million shares traded, surpassing major companies like Tesla, Apple, and Amazon, as per Yahoo Finance market data.
Riot Platforms, another Bitcoin mining firm, ranks as the sixth most-traded stock, with over 40 million shares traded in the same period. This increased trading activity in Bitcoin mining stocks aligns with the mining firms' efforts to expand operations in anticipation of the spot Bitcoin ETF approval expected in early January and the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April.
On December 19, Marathon announced its plan to acquire two mining centers for $179 million, significantly boosting its mining capacity by an additional 390 megawatts to the existing 584 megawatts. Similarly, Riot Platforms recently invested $291 million in Bitcoin mining rigs, marking the firm's largest hash rate increase.
Throughout 2023, Bitcoin itself has seen substantial growth, increasing by over 163% since the year's start. However, shares in Bitcoin miners like Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms have outperformed the cryptocurrency, with year-to-date gains of 767% and 452%, respectively, according to TradingView data.
Coinbase, the largest publicly traded crypto exchange, has also experienced significant growth, with its shares increasing by more than 450% since the beginning of 2023.
2023 started with many investors shorting crypto-related stocks. However, this approach has backfired, resulting in over $6 billion in liquidated crypto-related shorts so far.
