Bitcoin mining stocks: 3 key themes emerging for 2025 says analyst

By Steve Goldstein

Quantum computing, AI and bitcoin plays screen as some of the most speculative companies

Hope you got all the presents you wanted during the festive season.

If not, there are always lottery stocks. That is, highly speculative stocks that can go either boom or bust.

But how do you find these companies? A research paper from authors including Alok Kumar of the University of Miami notes that, if all market participants were passive investors, the ratio of dollar volume to market capitalization would be equal for all stocks. So to find the most speculative stocks, look for the stocks with the highest turnover ratios.

MarketWatch, as we've done from time to time, screened New York Stock Exchange- and Nasdaq-listed stocks, with market caps of at least $500 million, to find such companies.

Here's the list:

   Symbol  Name                                     Last year's annual profit, before items, millions of dollars 
   RGTI    Rigetti Computing, Inc.                  -75.1 
   BBAI    BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc.                -60.4 
   BTBT    Bit Digital, Inc.                        -13.9 
   OPEN    Opendoor Technologies Inc                -275 
   CAN     Canaan Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A        -414.2 
   CHPT    ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. Class A       -457.6 
   PLUG    Plug Power Inc.                          -1,368.80 
   TLRY    Tilray Brands, Inc.                      -245 
   QBTS    D-Wave Quantum Inc.                      -82.7 
   QUBT    Quantum Computing Inc.                   -27 
   PACB    Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.  -306.7 
   RCAT    Red Cat Holdings Inc                     -21.5 
   RZLV    Rezolve AI Limited                       -0.3 
   SERV    Serve Robotics Inc                       -24.8 
   WOLF    Wolfspeed Inc                            -573.6 
   ACHR    Archer Aviation Inc Class A              -457.9 
   NVTS    Navitas Semiconductor Corporation        -145.4 
   CLSK    Cleanspark, Inc.                         -145.8 
   IQ      iQIYI, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A        271.8 
   MARA    MARA Holdings, Inc.                      261.2 

The companies the screen identifies make intuitive sense: it's a list filled with quantum computing, AI and bitcoin plays. Most aren't profitable, though Asian video provider iQIYI and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings have made money this year.

For what it's worth, homebuilder NVR (NVR) and travel provider Booking Holdings (BKNG) screen as the least speculative stocks using this methodology, which makes sense given that each share carries a four-digit cost, making them ill-suited to day trading.

The markets

U.S. stock index futures were lower early Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00) down 120 points, or 0.27%, to 43,582, while S&P 500 (ES00) futures fell 19.5 points, or 0.32%, to 6,075, and Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ00) fell 79 points, or 0.36%, to 21,929.

European and Asian shares were mixed Friday in thin year-end trading, after China reported lower corporate profits in November, the fourth straight month of decline, with European markets moving in narrow ranges as they reopened after Christmas holidays.

Germany's DAX DX:DAX edged 0.1% higher to 19,863.29, while the CAC 40 FR:PX1 in Paris was up 0.4% at 7,308.99. Britain's FTSE 100 UK:UKX inched 0.1% lower, to 8,147.00. The dollar fell to 157.71 Japanese yen (USDJPY) from 158.00 yen. It had been trading below 150 yen until the past few days.

   Key asset performance                                                Last       5d     1m     YTD     1y 
   S&P 500                                                              6040.53    2.87%  0.70%  26.64%  26.33% 
   Nasdaq Composite                                                     20,035.34  3.31%  5.11%  33.47%  32.69% 
   10-year Treasury                                                     4.59       7.10   32.60  70.91   79.28 
   Gold                                                                 2649.9     1.93%  0.51%  27.90%  26.83% 
   Oil                                                                  69.73      0.39%  1.40%  -2.24%  -5.54% 
   Data: MarketWatch. Treasury yields change expressed in basis points 

The chart

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-Steve Goldstein

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