IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) closed at $38.82 on Thursday, July 2, 2026, plunging 10.39% in what marked the last trading session before the Nasdaq's Independence Day holiday. The stock has now fallen for nine straight sessions, shedding 17.8% since the prior Friday's close, despite being added to the Russell 1000 Index just days earlier.
The decline accelerated after the company disclosed a restricted stock unit grant totaling 18,198,656 shares to co-CEOs William Roberts and Daniel Roberts. Each executive received 9,099,328 RSUs, subject to a six-year vesting and holding period, with no further equity incentives expected until fiscal 2031. At Thursday's close, the grant was valued at approximately $706 million, representing about 5.5% of IREN's implied equity count. Short-seller Jim Chanos estimated the award amounts to 17% of the company's projected adjusted net income from fiscal 2027 through 2030.
The market reaction was swift. IREN's implied market capitalization fell by roughly $1.5 billion on Thursday alone, bringing the total loss since the June 26 close to about $2.8 billion. Volume surged to 60.2 million shares, well above recent averages. The stock hit a session low of $37.66 before recovering slightly in after-hours trading to $39.17.
Investors also weighed external pressures. Reports emerged that Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is exploring the launch of a cloud business to monetize excess AI computing capacity. Meta shares fell 4.94% on the day, and the broader Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8%. IREN's decline outpaced peers: CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) fell 4.59%, Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS) slipped 5.92%, and Bitcoin edged up 1.32% to $62,052.
Despite the selloff, IREN continues to highlight its power infrastructure. The company claims 5 gigawatts of secured capacity across six sites, including 810 MW currently operational, 2,100 MW under construction, and 1,600 MW in development. Recent executive hires—Kambiz Aghili as chief product officer from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Michael Nudelman as chief development officer from Google and CyrusOne—underscore the company's focus on scaling its AI-ready data center footprint.
A key overhang remains the partnership with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA). In May, the two companies agreed to collaborate on up to 5 GW of NVIDIA DGX-aligned AI infrastructure. The deal also gives NVIDIA a five-year option to purchase up to 30 million IREN shares at $70 each—a 44.5% premium to Thursday's close—subject to certain conditions.
Technical levels to watch on Monday include Thursday's low of $37.66 and high of $43.42. A break below the low would extend the losing streak to ten sessions, while a move above the high would still leave shares below the pre-RSU filing price. The week ahead will test whether buyers can look past the compensation controversy and Meta's cloud ambitions to focus on IREN's operational momentum.
