IREN Ltd (NASDAQ:IREN) shares are trading lower on Thursday morning. The decline follows broader market volatility fueled by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Global uncertainty pressured futures, with Nasdaq-100 contracts slipping 0.42% and S&P 500 futures shedding 0.25%.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is down 4.19% over the past 24 hours, hovering around the $70,000 mark.
The $6 Billion Dilution Debate
IREN, on March 5, announced a $6 billion at-the-market (ATM) equity program. This filing replaced a prior $1 billion supplement.
Short-seller Jim Chanos questioned the move on X, noting the company's silence on revenue targets. "These deals are uneconomic," Chanos wrote.
Bullseye AI Infrastructure Growth
Despite the dip, some analysts remain optimistic about the company's transition into artificial intelligence.
EMJ Capital's Eric Jackson compared the strategy to Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). Jackson noted a $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) uses under 10% of IREN's total power capacity. "The market sees dilution. I see infrastructure," Jackson stated.
Short Interest and Squeeze Risk
Short interest in IREN recently climbed from 41.95 million to 44.47 million shares. This represents 14.03% of the public float.
According to Benzinga data, short sellers would need 1.46 days to cover their positions based on average trading volumes.
Technical Analysis
IREN is trading 0.7% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 13.3% below its 100-day SMA, showing short-term pressure even as the longer-term trend is still supported by the stock holding 10.7% above its 200-day SMA.
Shares are up 486.25% over the past 12 months, and the stock is positioned closer to its 52-week high than its low.
The RSI is at 48.99, which sits in neutral territory. Meanwhile, MACD is at -0.8433 versus a signal line at -1.4132.
- Key Resistance: $47.50
- Key Support: $37.00
IREN Stock Price Activity: Iren shares were down 2.46% at $41.17 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Photo by T. Schneider via Shutterstock