Why Crypto Mining Stocks Booked Double-Digit Gains Today

Despite its nickname, Hump Day did not provide any impediment to the seemingly unstoppable cryptocurrency rally. A top crypto bull made a big move, and in response, his chosen coin’s upward momentum continued.

Unsurprisingly, investors in altcoins and crypto mining stocks eagerly followed suit. Mining sector bellwether Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA 15.25%) closed the day nearly 15% in positive territory. Peer CleanSpark (CLSK 14.39%) wasn’t far behind with a 14% gain, while SOS Limited (SOS 19.89%) trumped both with a rise of more than 18%.

MicroStrategy continues to pile into Bitcoin

That bull is Bitcoin (BTC 2.40%) evangelist Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman of software company MicroStrategy (MSTR 11.06%). To assert that Saylor is all in on Bitcoin is a monster understatement. Several years ago, he and MicroStrategy decided to plow nearly all its spare capital (plus piles of debt financing) into stocking up on the digital coin.

Fellow Bitcoin bulls will be happy to note that on Wednesday, Saylor divulged on X (formerly Twitter) that his company plowed a fresh $615.7 million to buy an additional hoard of 14,620 Bitcoin. This made for an average price of $42,110 per coin. He added that as of Tuesday, MicroStrategy holds 189,150 Bitcoin.

That total cost the company $5.9 billion for an average price of $31,168 apiece — quite the bargain, given the coin’s current level. Doing some simple math reveals that MicroStrategy is presently sitting on more than $2 billion (yes, that’s billion with a “b”) in unrealized Bitcoin gains.

Those are the kinds of numbers that get investors excited. With Bitcoin already on quite the roll, along with many other cryptocurrencies and related crypto assets, it only upped the temperature on an already white-hot investment with the market.

And, as usual, where Bitcoin goes, Bitcoin mining stocks follow. Investors are seeing big gains in the future for miners who have stayed the course throughout the thick of this rally and the thin of the crypto winter several months back.

2024 could be a very happy new year for the crypto market

Meanwhile, they continue to draw encouragement from the increasing likelihood of Federal Reserve rate cuts and the first approvals for crypto spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Many anticipate that both events will occur starting in early- to mid-2024. Individually, rate cuts and the approval/rollout of such ETFs have great power to blast cryptocurrencies higher; together, they can be exceptional market movers.