IREN’s Anthropic Shortlist Ignites a Short Squeeze – But the Pivot Story Is Far from Over
Published on 07/06/2026 at 18:23 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
After bleeding nearly 28% over five consecutive sessions, IREN staged a dramatic reversal on Monday, surging 6.19% to €38.60 after the company secured a spot on the shortlist for a massive Anthropic data center project in Australia. The KI firm is seeking at least 1.4 gigawatts of capacity for a buildout valued between $12 billion and $15 billion, with IREN vying against CDC Data Centres, AirTrunk, NextDC and Stack Infrastructure.
The news alone might not have produced such a violent move. But with 18.7% of IREN’s free float sold short and options traders positioned deeply bearishly, the positive catalyst triggered a classic short squeeze. Sellers rushed to cover their positions, amplifying the rally in a stock already technically oversold — its RSI sat at 35.1 before Monday’s jump, and the annualized volatility has been running above 93%.
The Anthropic opportunity dovetails with IREN’s sweeping transformation from a pure-play Bitcoin miner into a vertically integrated AI cloud provider — a rebranding that began in November 2024 when the company changed its name from Iris Energy. The pivot has been backed by concrete contracts: a five-year agreement with Microsoft signed in November 2025, and a billion-dollar deal with Nvidia in May 2025. IREN also named Kambiz Aghili and Michael Nudelman as chief product and chief development officers earlier this year to accelerate its cloud and data centre expansion, while maintaining partnerships with Dell and Nvidia.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying IREN?
Yet the market remains deeply conflicted. Monday’s jump erased only a fraction of the stock’s recent slide: IREN is still down roughly 23% from its 50-day moving average of €46.88, and it has lost 47% of its value since hitting a 52-week high of €68.61 on 3 November 2025. Over the past 30 days, shares have fallen 18.28%, and the weekly picture shows a 3.90% decline despite the Monday rally. The stock currently trades below its 200-day average of €41.99, a level that previously served as long-term support.
What makes the volatility so extreme is the dual nature of the business. IREN is simultaneously exposed to the wild swings of cryptocurrency mining — where March-quarter revenue from mining fell — and to the hyper-growth of AI infrastructure, where cloud revenue more than doubled over the same period. The company has locked in more than 4.5 gigawatts of power capacity and is building out sites like Sweetwater in Texas (first phase due to go live in April 2026) and an 800-MW campus in Bundey, South Australia, targeted for 2028.
For now, the Anthropic shortlist provides a reason for investors to look beyond the recent panic. From its 52-week low of €13.31 on 1 August 2025, IREN has still more than doubled — and the 12-month gain stands at 166.83%. But being shortlisted is not a contract award, and the stock’s extreme sensitivity to any news flow underscores how much execution risk remains. The coming months will test whether IREN can deliver on its construction timelines and convert pipeline projects into binding agreements. If it can, Monday’s short squeeze could mark the beginning of a broader recovery. If not, the whipsaw is likely to continue.
Ad
IREN Stock: New Analysis - 6 July
Fresh IREN information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
Disclaimer regarding our articles: No investment advice, no buy or sell recommendation. Information on prices, companies, and markets is provided without guarantee; changes are possible at any time. Stock market transactions can lead to substantial losses. Our articles are created and reviewed in whole or in part automatically with the support of AI.
