Cipher Mining Plunges 1.63 as $1.16 Billion Volume Drop Drags Ranking to 59th

Cipher Mining (CIFR) closed at a 1.63% decline on Sept. 26, 2025, with a trading volume of $1.16 billion, marking a 40.93% drop from the previous day’s level. The stock ranked 59th in trading activity among U.S.-listed equities, reflecting uneven liquidity despite its price drop. Analysts noted that the sharp volume contraction could indicate reduced market participation or strategic position adjustments in the cryptocurrency sector, though no direct catalysts were disclosed in available reporting.

Recent industry updates highlighted broader sector volatility linked to macroeconomic uncertainties and regulatory developments. While no Cipher-specific news emerged in the reviewed period, market participants observed heightened sensitivity to Bitcoin price movements and global mining cost dynamics. Institutional trading patterns suggested a cautious stance, with reduced open interest in derivative contracts tied to crypto-asset exposure.

To run a rigorous back-test, I need to pin down a few practical details that aren’t fully specified yet: Universe – Should we scan the entire U.S. listed equity universe (NYSE + NASDAQ + AMEX) each day, or a predefined universe such as the Russell 3000 or S&P 500 constituents? Volume definition – “Top 500 by daily trading volume” – do you mean by number of shares traded or by dollar value traded? Execution convention – Do we buy at the same day’s close and sell at the next day’s close (close-to-close), or use open prices? Weighting of the 500-stock basket – Equal-weight each stock, or weight by volume/dollar volume/market-cap? Transaction costs and slippage – Any commission or slippage assumptions to include? Risk controls – Stop-loss, max holding days (other than the 1-day rule), or any other restrictions?

Once I have these details I can build the data-retrieval plan, fetch the required daily data for every constituent, and run the portfolio back-test from 2022-01-03 (first trading day of 2022) to today.