Plug Power’s Wild Ride: Why the Hydrogen Stock Surged Then Crashed on September 24, 2025

Plug Power investors just experienced the market's version of whiplash—a dramatic surge followed by an equally brutal collapse. The hydrogen fuel cell company's stock took traders on a rollercoaster that would make any crypto veteran blush.

The Morning Spike: Green Energy Euphoria

Early trading saw explosive buying pressure as hydrogen sector optimism overwhelmed rational analysis. Retail traders piled in chasing momentum, creating that familiar FOMO pattern we see across speculative assets.

The Afternoon Plunge: Reality Bites Back

Then the institutional sellers emerged—coolly executing trades while Main Street celebrated paper gains. The reversal was swift and merciless, wiping out the entire morning's rally plus extra.

Market Mechanics Exposed

This classic pump-and-dump pattern reveals how traditional markets increasingly resemble crypto's volatility—just with more paperwork and slower settlements. The only thing missing was a Musk tweet to complete the parody.

Another day, another reminder that green energy stocks have become the crypto-alts of legacy finance—all the speculation with none of the decentralization benefits.

Image source: Getty Images.

Plug throws a party

But why did Plug Power stock explode higher today in the first place? Well, the most obvious catalyst appears to be the company's announcement this morning that today it is hosting "an investor tour" of its new green hydrogen production plant in Georgia.

In addition to ginning up institutional investor interest in its stock, the tour will celebrate the fact that Plug's Georgia facility just had its best month ever, producing 324 metric tons of green hydrogen fuel in August.

Is Plug stock a buy?

How good is this news, though, really? Assume Plug can sell its green hydrogen at the going rate, anywhere from $4 to $12 per kilogram -- so call it $8 at the midpoint. 324 metric tons of the stuff WOULD therefore be worth about $2.6 million in monthly revenue for Plug.

Annualize that, and the Georgia plant looks like perhaps a $31.2 million-a-year business for Plug -- better than nothing, but adding less than 5% to Plug's $673 million in annual revenue currently. That sounds to me like a poor reason for investors to have bid up Plug stock by 19% this morning, the more so seeing as Plug's revenues still aren't earning the company any actual profits.

With a $3 billion market capitalization and annual losses of nearly $2 billion, Plug stock still looks like a sell to me.