Quantum computing stocks soar, then fall, in holiday week trading. What’s up with D-Wave, Rigetti, and IonQ?

Santa keeps delivering for quantum computing investors this year.

On Monday, shares of well-known quantum computing firms shot up by double digits, with D-Wave Quantum stock up almost 15% and Quantum Computing Inc. up 11%. Shares of IonQ Inc. and Rigetti Computing were likewise up roughly 10%.

The exact catalyst spurring those increases is unclear.

It may have initially been sparked in part by D-Wave’s Monday announcement that it would be attending the CES 2026 trade show next month.

The Palo Alto-based company plans to showcase its “award-winning annealing quantum computing technology, hybrid quantum-classical solvers, and real-world customer use cases that are demonstrating measurable performance benefits, often beyond classical computing alone.”

Quantum computing stocks have seen strong growth in 2025

Aside from that announcement, there may simply be ongoing excitement about the quantum space in general.

Publicly traded quantum computing firms have captivated investors over the past year or more, despite the speculative nature of the underlying technology that some say will transform the computer industry.

A June report published by McKinsey & Company dug into the appeal, saying that “surging investment and faster-than-expected innovation could propel the quantum market to $100 billion in a decade.” 

It added that as quantum computing startups have received more funding from both public and private sources, the technology itself has started seeing more commercial deployment, and companies are also making progress in patenting the technology they’re developing.

Year-to-date growth for these stocks has been mostly impressive and in some cases eye-popping.

As of Tuesday morning, D-Wave shares are up 235% since January 1. IonQ shares are up 25%, and Rigetti shares are up 34%.

The outlier is Quantum Computing Inc., which has seen its stock price fall 35% year-to-date.

Will the end-of-year quantum rally last?

It’s unclear how long the holiday rally is going to last, but some profit-taking already seems to be underway.

As of early trading on Tuesday morning, D-Wave shares had fallen roughly 3%, while Rigetti was down around 1.58%. Shares in Quantum Computing Inc. IonQ were roughly flat.

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91465778/quantum-computing-stocks-rise-and-fall-d-wave-rigetti-ionq