Crypto miner Marathon Digital’s shares fall nearly 18%, on pace for worst day since January

Shares of crypto miner Marathon Digital Holdings fell nearly 18% to as low as $23.07 on Friday afternoon, putting the stock on pace for its worst day since Jan. 18 after logging an impressive rally earlier this month. Marathon’s stock MARA, -16.44% rebounded slightly over the course of the afternoon session, but was still down almost 16% to $23.60 as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, according to FactSet data. The losses come after the company’s shares surged 112.1% during a 11-day win streak to close Wednesday at $31.07, their highest price since March 29, 2022, before falling 9.5% on Thursday. The stock previously fell 17.4% on Jan. 18. Marathon shares are still up nearly 600% so far this year, putting the stock on pace for its best year since 2020, per FactSet data. Its recent rally is in part driven by optimism that a spot-bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.93% exchange-traded fund may soon be approved in the U.S. Other crypto miners have also rallied this year, with shares of Riot Platforms RIOT, -12.10% up over 360% this year to date and shares of Ebang International EBON, -11.36% up more than 430% during the same period. Bitcoin edged lower on Friday and is down 1.1% over the past 24 hours to slightly above $42,000, according to CoinDesk data. The cryptocurrency is up 156.9% so far this year, while still down almost 40% from its peak in 2021.