BitMine chairman Tom Lee told the Consensus Miami crowd this week that the mining giant may slow its Ethereum purchases as it approaches a self-imposed 5% supply target. The news landed alongside BMNR shares trading at $22.00 on May 7 — down 3.97% on the day and 86% below the stock's 52-week high of $161 set back in mid-2025. The company's $4 billion share repurchase program, which it expanded after moving its listing from Nasdaq to the NYSE, was cited by Lee as an alternative use of capital.
Stock stuck between moving averages
BMNR closed at $22.00 on May 7, wedged between its 20-day EMA of $21.92 and its 50-day EMA of $22.17. That tight spot has been a dangerous one before: earlier this year, breaks below the 20-day EMA led to a 6.48% drop on April 27 and a 15.62% plunge on March 25. The stock formed an ascending channel after a 59.14% slide from its December 10 high of $42.03, but the momentum behind that channel is looking shaky.
Chaikin Money Flow is showing bearish divergence. Price inched higher from April 29 through May 6, but CMF trended lower the whole time — a sign that buying pressure wasn't backing the rally. That kind of divergence often precedes a reversal.
Options market tilts bullish, carefully
The options activity tells a slightly different story. The volume put-call ratio dropped from 0.38 on April 29 to 0.29 on May 7, meaning traders are piling into calls relative to puts. Open interest put-call ratio drifted lower too, from 0.44 to 0.42 over the same period. Both readings point to a market leaning long, albeit without the aggressive positioning you'd see in a breakout setup.
The shift in sentiment is notable given that BMNR is down 46% over the past six months and has been a brutal hold for anyone who bought near the peak. A 86% drawdown from the 52-week high doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but the options crowd seems to be betting the worst is over — at least for now.
What it'll take to break out
For the bulls to regain control, BMNR needs to reclaim $22.47. That's the first resistance level above the current chop. If it clears that, the next test sits at $24.09. But with Lee signaling a potential pullback in Ethereum accumulation — the very narrative that drove BitMine's stock higher in the first place — the path up looks steeper than it did a month ago.
The company still holds 5.18 million ETH, roughly 4.29% of circulating supply. Slowing purchases doesn't mean selling; it means the capital that was going into ETH might now flow into the buyback program. For shareholders, that's a mixed signal: less exposure to Ethereum's upside, but more direct support for the stock price. The next move likely depends on which of those two effects the market decides matters more.
