“We believe bitcoin miners are still largely retail-traded stocks and institutions have largely stayed away from bitcoin proxies, as traditional investors remain skeptical and still approach crypto with a rear-view bias,” analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote.

“With bitcoin climbing new highs of $71K, we expect institutional interest in bitcoin equities to finally tip over, and bitcoin miners to be the largest beneficiaries,” the analysts said, adding that the long bitcoin miners trade requires “more patience.”

The rising bitcoin price and transaction fees will provide a cushion for the miners into halving, even if production costs double post-halving, the report said. Outperform-rated Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK) “will clock ~70% and 60% gross margin respectively,” the analysts added.

Mining stocks have underperformed the bitcoin rally as investors are “long bitcoin and short miners.” The thinking behind the trade is that it’s safer to buy spot ETFs rather than mining stocks that are exposed to risk from the upcoming halving.

Bitcoin price was over 4% on Monday, at around $72,269 at the time of publication. The CoinDesk 20 index {{CD20}} also gained 4%.