Bitcoin mining stocks top $3.5B in trading volume as GBTC outtrades ‘99% of ETFs

Major mining firms had a marathon day of stock trading this week with volumes topping $200 million and eclipsing some of the world’s tech giants.
Crypto mining firms saw robust trading volumes on American bourses on Monday, with some mining shares even outpacing well-known U.S. tech giants. 
The total trading volume among the two largest Bitcoin mining firms — Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms — was a combined $3.55 billion on Jan. 8, according to data from Yahoo Finance. 
Marathon Digital (MARA) even secured the position as the top-traded stock in the United States on the day with a volume of 112 million total shares traded, according to Yahoo.
This put the Bitcoin miner ahead of Tesla, AMD, Nvidia, and Apple by a clear margin. Tesla, the second most traded stock in the U.S. on Monday, had a daily trading volume of around 85 million traded shares comparatively.
U.S.-listed companies ranked by volume as of Jan. 8. Source: Yahoo Finance
Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) traded close to half a billion on Jan. 8, which is more than 99% of the 3,000 current ETFs, observed industry expert Eric Balchunas.
He added a reminder that “they are bringing a (volume) gun to a knife fight if they launch with everyone else,” in reference to the anticipated pending approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs this week.
Grayscale hopes to convert or “uplist” its fund to a spot ETF, pending a green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related: Spot Bitcoin ETF issuers file amended S-1 applications — Now await SEC approval
Marathon's outperformance comes amid a wider boom in the Bitcoin mining sector. On Jan. 8, Core Scientific secured a $55 million equity investment as it emerged from its debt crisis.
As reported by Cointelegraph, the $55-million equity offering expired last week and was oversubscribed. The firm plans to relist on the Nasdaq exchange after bankruptcy proceedings are finalized, joining the high-flying mining stocks outperforming this week.
Additionally, CleanSpark announced a strategic agreement that could see it purchase up to 160,000 miners by the end of 2024.