Strategy's Bitcoin Underwater the Day Before MSCI Names Who Is Out

Strategy's bitcoin holdings are worth less than it paid for them. The company disclosed in a Monday filing that it bought 1,036 BTC between November 2 and November 8 for $81.9 million, an average of $79,012 per coin, taking its stack to 850,364 BTC. The holdings cost $64.16 billion, an average of $75,456 per coin. With bitcoin near $74,650 (as at time of publishing), the stack sat roughly $685 million under water on paper.

MSTR closed at $128.93 on Friday, down 21.6% from $164.55 on October 6, and fell a further 2.3% on Monday. That leaves the stock about 73% below its November 2024 record of $473.83, by Blockhead's arithmetic.

Strategy sold 2,051,348 shares of MSTR common stock for $283.8 million net, according to its filing. It put $81.9 million into bitcoin, $188.3 million into repurchasing 1,887,464 shares of its STRC preferred and $13.6 million into its USD cash balance. Its USD reserve stood at $4.77 billion, and $18.34 billion remained available under its MSTR sale program.

The preferred buyback was more than twice the bitcoin purchase. STRC pays a 12% dividend and is designed to trade near its $100 par value, and it was at $99.98 on Monday. Strategy does not sell new STRC when it trades below $100, so buybacks support the price and cut the dividend bill, but they spend money that would otherwise go to bitcoin.