Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) Lags Bitcoin ETF By Nine Points As Dollar Reserve Climbs To $4.8 Billion

Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) shares rose 5% to $97.95 on Monday afternoon, but the modest bounce does little to offset a punishing year-to-date performance that has left the company well behind the benchmark it was designed to beat.

Through Monday, Strategy stock was down 36% year-to-date and down 73% over the past year, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT) was down just 27% over the same period in 2026.

Strategy markets itself as a leveraged bitcoin exposure vehicle, meaning a down year for the underlying asset translates into steeper losses for shareholders, and the premium investors once paid for that leverage has meaningfully compressed.

The company did not buy or sell any bitcoin during the seven-day period ended August 16, leaving its total holdings at 840,447 BTC purchased at an average price of $75,385 per coin.

That figure represents a decline from a peak above 847,300 BTC, a shift that reflects a series of sales totaling approximately 6,948 BTC for roughly $432 million since May, including a 1,690 BTC sale earlier in the month that generated around $108 million.

At roughly $63,500 per bitcoin, Strategy’s holdings are worth approximately $53.4 billion against the $63.36 billion the company paid, leaving an unrealized shortfall of around $9.9 billion, according to reporting from Decrypt.