Riot Platforms shares rose 4.7% to $19.91 on Monday after JPMorgan raised its price target from $20 to $22 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing momentum from a major data center agreement reportedly involving Anthropic. Morgan Stanley was even more bullish, lifting its RIOT target from $36 to $43 on August 13. The stock faces technical resistance at $20.48, with support around $18.50, according to four-hour chart analysis.
The bullish Wall Street revisions followed Riot's disclosure of a 20-year, $9.1 billion data center contract at its Rockdale campus in Texas. The customer was identified only as a leading frontier AI company in SEC filings, but Bloomberg reported Anthropic as the tenant. Riot expects to deliver the first 96 MW of critical IT capacity by December 2027 and another 95 MW by June 2028. Two five-year tenant-controlled extensions could raise the contract's total potential value to $16.1 billion. Riot already has a 10-year, $311 million lease with AMD, which has expanded to 50 MW of contracted capacity.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded near $64,000 after reports that the United States and Iran agreed to extend their 60-day ceasefire, which was set to expire on August 18. The Kobeissi Letter reported the agreement operates under a Memorandum of Understanding brokered by Pakistan, but noted no imminent broader accord. The de-escalation may ease energy inflation concerns, yet Bitcoin still faces headwinds from elevated interest rate expectations, inconsistent spot ETF demand, CLARITY Act regulatory delays, and occasional corporate and mining company sales.
Technical indicators for Bitcoin remain mixed. The daily RSI near 52 is neutral, MACD near minus 38 is slightly negative, while the 14-day ADX and 13-day bull/bear indicator offer buy signals. Analysts see a bullish scenario taking BTC toward $70,000 and possibly $82,000 if ETF demand strengthens, while a bearish case could push it back toward $57,000.
