Bitcoin (BTC) has surged past the $60,000 mark for the first time since November 2021, driven by a continued influx of exchange-traded fund (ETF) investments. Over the past two days, ETFs have seen a combined net inflow of $1.1 billion, with demand from Bitcoin ETFs outpacing daily Bitcoin production by miners by approximately tenfold.
Amid this upward trajectory, analysts at Bernstein highlighted an interesting trend – the underperformance of Bitcoin mining stocks compared to cryptocurrency’s performance.
In the past 120 days, following the increased likelihood of ETF approvals, and especially since the launch of ETFs on January 10, Bitcoin mining companies have seen their stock values outpace the gains of Bitcoin.
Specifically, Cleanspark (NASDAQ:CLSK) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) have experienced surges of approximately 380% and 250%, respectively, compared to a 70% increase in BTC’s price during the same period.
However, amidst Bitcoin’s surge above $60,000 on Wednesday, this trend did not persist.
Notably, the flagship crypto asset rose 6% on the day, notably ahead of miners like Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and CLSK, which fell 7.5% and 10%, respectively.
Analysts observe that Bitcoin on violent rallies like today sucks away liquidity from the mining stocks. Retail traders end up chasing Bitcoin on days like today, versus mining stocks,” they wrote.
They expect Bitcoin miners to be higher beta over at least a reasonable time frame i.e at least a micro BTC cycle e.g the Pre ETF rally, post ETF rally or across the entire BTC cycle which typically would last for 18-24 months. Higher beta is not on a daily basis,” they added.