Why Is IREN Stock Falling On Thursday?

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) shares faced intense selling pressure on Thursday. This downward movement follows a sharp reversal from Wednesday’s gains, which were driven by a major network expansion announcement.

• IREN stock is taking a hit today. Why is IREN stock dropping?

Broader Cryptocurrency Market Sell-Off

The primary catalyst behind the drop is a significant downturn in the broader cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) recently fell below the $63,000 threshold. This macro weakness directly dragged down the entire crypto-infrastructure sector.

Transitioning Business Model Exposure

Despite its active pivot toward artificial intelligence (AI), market experts emphasize that IREN remains highly sensitive to Bitcoin's price fluctuations.

The company operates data centers powered by renewable energy across Canada and the U.S. While IREN is converting its Bitcoin mining capacity for AI cloud infrastructure and working with leaders such as Microsoft, its historical ties to digital asset mining leave it exposed to crypto market volatility.

Current Short Interest

The stock’s technical setup shows shifting dynamics. In the latest reporting period, short interest in IREN decreased from 58.36 million to 50.94 million shares, leaving 14.72% of the company’s public float sold short. Based on its recent average daily trading volume of 64 million shares, short sellers would require approximately one day to cover their positions.

Bundey Campus Momentum Pauses

Thursday’s decline stalls the momentum gained on Wednesday, when IREN announced a transmission connection agreement for a planned 800MW data center campus in Bundey, South Australia.

Highlighting the long-term vision, co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts stated that South Australia offers the “clean energy, connectivity and policy support needed for AI infrastructure development at scale.” The project targets energization starting in 2028.

IREN Stock: Key Levels and Momentum Indicators

The bigger-picture trend is still pointed up: IREN is trading about 3.5% above its 20-day SMA at $58.78 and roughly 31.1% above its 200-day SMA at $46.39, which is classic pullback within an uptrend positioning. The 20-day SMA is also above the 50-day SMA, and the 50-day SMA is above the 200-day SMA, keeping the trend stack bullish.

From a structure standpoint, the stock is still working below its 52-week high of $76.87 after a recent swing high in May.

IREN Stock Price Activity: Iren shares were down 4.96% at $62.44 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo by T. Schneider via Shutterstock