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Public Bitcoin miners underperform BTC and other proxies year-to-date

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Public Bitcoin miners underperform BTC and other proxies year-to-date

CleanSpark's 18% YTD gain trails Bitcoin's 121% surge.

Bitcoin mining stock CleanSpark (CLSK) has gained 18% year-to-date, falling short of Bitcoin’s 121% rise over the same period. Analyst Caleb Franzen of Cubic Analytics highlights this discrepancy, questioning the effectiveness of investing in mining stocks for higher exposure to Bitcoin’s performance.

Public Bitcoin miners underperform BTC and other proxies year-to-date
Bitcoin vs CleanSpark (Source: X)

Franzen points out that CLSK has underperformed Bitcoin and lagged behind its peers. Compared to the Bitcoin mining ETF (WGMI), CLSK is down more than 15% this year, indicating a weaker performance against a basket of miners.

Public Bitcoin miners underperform BTC and other proxies year-to-date
CleanSpark vs other miners (Source: X)

In contrast, stocks like TeraWulf (WULF), Hut 8 Mining (HUT), and Core Scientific (CORZ) have shown more robust trends. These companies have recorded higher highs and higher lows throughout 2024, suggesting an uptrend relative to their industry group.

Franzen emphasizes the importance of aligning with market trends rather than resisting them. He notes that alternatives such as Bitcoin itself, Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), MicroStrategy (MSTR), and DeFi Technologies (DEFTF) have outperformed mining stocks this year.

Encouraging investors to remain objective, Franzen suggests a rotation out of underperforming miners in favor of better-performing assets. “You can either listen to the market, or you can operate with cognitive dissonance and bias to stay trapped in losing narratives,” he advises.