IonQ Climbs 10%, D-Wave Rockets 25%, Rigetti Soars 24%, Quantum Computing Inc. Jumps 14%: The Quantum Trade Roars Back

1 hour ago 1

David Moadel

Thu, May 21, 2026 astatine 9:06 AM CDT 4 min read

Quick Read

Shares of IonQ (IONQ), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), and Quantum Computing (QUBT) moved sharply higher, driven not by a circumstantial catalyst connected Thursday but by Q1 2026 net showing beardown growth.
Declining marketplace volatility and de-risking sentiment pulled superior backmost into the quantum analyzable arsenic a unified basket, with the largest gains concentrated successful the astir beaten-down names that entered Thursday successful antagonistic year-to-date territory.
The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 stocks and IonQ wasn't 1 of them. Get them present FREE.

IonQ's (NYSE:IONQ) shares are up 10% successful aboriginal Thursday trading, portion D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) banal is spiking 25% higher. Moreover, Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) banal is rising 24% and Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) banal is climbing 14%. Thus, the pure-play quantum cohort is trading arsenic a azygous handbasket erstwhile again.

The bounce arrives 3 days aft this aforesaid radical sold disconnected successful unison connected Monday, May 18, erstwhile IonQ fell 8%, D-Wave dropped 9%, Rigetti slid 10%, and Quantum Computing besides mislaid 10%. Today's summation magnitudes reflector that pullback signifier astir perfectly. The astir damaged names are bouncing the hardest.

The macro backdrop is supportive. The VIX is sitting astatine 17.44, good wrong the mean scope and down from a March highest of 31.05. That benignant of de-risking tends to propulsion superior backmost into high-beta, narrative-driven names similar the quantum complex.

The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 stocks and IonQ wasn't 1 of them. Get them present FREE.

The Dispersion Tells the Story

IonQ's smaller bounce is the editorial signal. Heading into today, IONQ banal was the lone 1 of the 4 successful affirmative year-to-date (YTD) territory astatine +17%, with a one-year summation of 49%. There's little mean-reversion country erstwhile the illustration hasn't been broken.

By contrast, QBTS banal entered Thursday down 26.2% twelvemonth to date, and RGTI banal was down 23.8% YTD. Quantum Computing banal sat astatine -6.8% YTD. The deeper the discount, the harder the snapback, which is however sentiment-driven baskets typically behave aft a flush.

There's nary single, named catalyst down today's move. Q1 2026 net crossed the radical were broadly constructive: IonQ posted gross of $64.67 million, +755% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth (YoY), and raised full-year 2026 guidance to $260 cardinal to $270 million. D-Wave's bookings surged to $33.4 million, Rigetti's gross astir tripled to $4.4 million, and Quantum Computing reported gross of $3.69 million, up 5,951% YoY.

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