D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS) shares took a hit Wednesday as investors locked in profits from the stock's recent run, while a fresh academic spat over the company's quantum computing claims added fuel to the selloff. The stock was down 3.59% at $26.82 in premarket trading, according to market data. But zoom out, and the picture is still pretty rosy: shares are up 58.52% over the past 12 months.
The latest drama centers on a paper from researchers at the Flatiron Institute, who used a classical simulation algorithm called BP-TNS to claim they had "overturned" D-Wave's peer-reviewed Science paper on quantum supremacy. That's a big claim—quantum supremacy is the idea that a quantum computer can solve a problem that no classical computer can handle in a reasonable time. If it's true, it's a big deal for D-Wave's technology. If it's not, well, that's why the stock is wobbling.
D-Wave didn't take the challenge lying down. On Tuesday, the company issued a detailed response pushing back hard. CEO Alan Baratz said in a statement: "D-Wave's demonstration of beyond-classical computation continues to hold up under careful scientific scrutiny. We welcome advances in classical methods, including recent work from the Flatiron Institute, but claims that these advances overturn D-Wave's result are inaccurate."
Trevor Lanting, D-Wave's chief development officer, added that the company's internal analysis showed the Flatiron algorithm "fails for strongly coupled three-dimensional spin glasses on cubic and diamond lattices." In other words, D-Wave says the new classical method doesn't actually work on the hard problems that matter.
This kind of back-and-forth is pretty normal in cutting-edge science, but for investors, it's a reminder that quantum computing is still a field where the goalposts move. One day you're a pioneer, the next day someone says your results don't hold up. D-Wave's stock has been on a tear, so any hint of uncertainty can trigger profit-taking.
Federal Backing Remains Intact
Amid the academic noise, D-Wave's commercial and government support is still humming along. The company recently secured second-year funding for its superconducting qubit fabrication project, part of a broader $25 million U.S. Department of Defense initiative to boost microelectronics capabilities. That's a concrete sign that the government sees quantum computing as strategically important, both for commerce and national security.
The funding supports D-Wave's role in the Improved Materials for Superconducting Qubits with Scalable Fabrication (SQFab) project, which aims to make quantum technologies more scalable. So while the academic debate rages, the federal money keeps flowing.
Critical Price Levels To Watch For D-Wave Quantum
Let's talk charts. QBTS is still in a longer-term uptrend, but the recent rally has stretched things a bit. The stock is trading 22.7% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 43% above its 50-day SMA. Those are stretched conditions that often invite profit-taking—exactly what we're seeing today. Even so, the stock is 16.7% above its 200-day SMA, which keeps the bigger-picture trend constructive.
From a trend-structure standpoint, the 20-day SMA is above the 50-day SMA—that's a bullish alignment. But the 50-day SMA is still below the 200-day SMA, reflecting the "death cross" that occurred in March. That mix often shows up in transitions where the short-term trend improves first, while the longer-term trend is still repairing prior damage. Think of it as a market that's healing but not fully healed.
The cleaner momentum lens right now is the MACD (moving average convergence divergence). It's above its signal line, and the histogram is positive. That points to improving momentum versus the prior downswing. In plain terms, when MACD is above its signal line, it suggests downside pressure is easing and buyers are regaining control at the margin.
Here are the key levels to watch:
- Key Resistance: $32.00 — a nearby round-number area where rebounds can stall
- Key Support: $23.50 — a nearby level where buyers previously stepped in
If $23.50 fails, traders will often start looking for a deeper mean-reversion toward the 200-day area (around $23.03 on the SMA), but as of now price is still holding well above that longer-term trend line.
So, is this dip a buying opportunity or a warning sign? The academic debate adds uncertainty, but the federal backing and longer-term trend are still supportive. For now, it's a stock that's taking a breather after a big run—and the market is watching to see who wins the quantum supremacy argument.
