Bitcoin price nears key support: RIOT, MARA, and CLSK stocks at risk

Bitcoin (BTC) mining stocks like Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA), and CleanSpark (CLSK) retreated in the pre-market session as BTC pulled back. 

RIOT, MARA, and CLSK fell more than 2% while other crypto-related stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell by 1.5%. 

Bitcoin sell-off resumes

Crypto-linked stocks pulled back as Bitcoin resumed its downtrend on Wednesday. After rising to $63,750 on Monday, BTC is hovering at the $60,0000 and it is unclear if it will bounce back.

Most importantly, Bitcoin is dangerously close to the crucial support at $58,273 which is the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The next support level for Bitcoin is $56,426, representing its lowest level in May. 

Bitcoin price chart

If Bitcoin drops below that price, it will be a signal that bears have prevailed, which could see it move to the $50,000 level, if not lower. 

This decline happened after a whale deposited nearly 2,000 Bitcoins to Binance in two seperate transactions. While not always the case, deposits to exchanges typically happen when holders are exiting their positions.

The whale action has coincided with a period when the German government continues to sell its Bitcoin holdings. It transferred coins worth $52 million to exchanges on Tuesday. 

As a result, data by CoinGlass shows that the volume of Bitcoin balances in exchanges has started rising. The volume rose to 2.49 million on Tuesday from last month’s low of 2.47 million. 

Bitcoin balances in exchanges

Bitcoin mining companies at risk

If Bitcoin’s sell-off continues, it will put Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, CleanSpark and Riot Platforms at risk. In the past, these companies tend to have a close correlation with Bitcoin. 

This drop is happening a few months after the halving event happens, reducing the amount of Bitcoins that miners receive. 

To compensate this drop, most of these companies have added their mining equipment. CleanSpark achieved a 20 EH/s hash rate, which helped it mine 445 coins in June after mining 417 coins in the previous month. It did that after buying 5 mining sites in Georgia. 

Marathon Digital mined 590 coins in June, a 40% drop from the same month in 2023 and flat from May. 

Riot Platforms, on the other hand, has focused on acquiring Bitfarms, a company that mined 189 coins in June.