Options traders are building bearish positions around Strategy's (formerly MicroStrategy) flagship preferred STRC stock after the security fell to a record low, adding a new layer of pressure to one of Michael Saylor’s main funding tools for buying Bitcoin. Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, known by the ticker STRC, closed Wednesday […]
CryptoSlate•Oluwapelumi Adejumo18 Jun
Michael Saylor’s Strategy claims to have enough reserves to pay decades' worth of dividends, but not everyone agrees.
CoinDesk•Shaurya Malwa18 Jun
Wednesday's close of $89 appears to be the lowest on record since the stock was first issued in 2025.
The Block•Daniel Kuhn17 Jun
Strategy’s (formerly MicroStrategy) flagship dividend-paying preferred stock is trading at its weakest level this year, pressuring one of the company’s most important tools for raising capital to buy Bitcoin. The $10.5 billion variable-rate perpetual preferred stock, which trades under the ticker STRC, closed Tuesday at $91.79. The settlement marked its third-lowest close since trading began […]
CryptoSlate•Oluwapelumi Adejumo17 Jun
Strategy STRC Near Record Low, Bitcoin Buys Unsustainable
99Bitcoins•Alex Ioannou17 Jun
Between its dividend snapshot dates, holding Strategy’s STRC is risky and full of historical examples of downside volatility.
Protos•Aaron Wise17 Jun
“It appears traders are seeing the latest BTC acquisition as an unsustainable path for STRC,” said 10x Research’s Markus Thielen.
Cointelegraph•Martin Young17 Jun
Capital B is developing a digital credit instrument similar to Strategy's STRC and Strive's SATA.
The Block•Danny Park16 Jun
"Saylor put out a video talking about his yield with STRC...it was making it out that there is no risk involved," says Ward.
The Block•RT Watson15 Jun
Michael Saylor reposted plenty of notifications about DeFi tokens associated with STRC, but he swears reposts weren't endorsements.
Protos•Aaron Wise10 Jun
Apyx Finance's apxUSD stablecoin slipped to $0.94 after Bitcoin fell to $63K, the first concrete peg break in the chain linking Strategy's BTC treasury to on-chain dollar instruments.
The Defiant•The Defiant Team5 Jun
BitMine Immersion Technologies filed a 424B5 prospectus supplement to raise up to $300 million through Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at a 9.5% cumulative dividend — applying Strategy's STRC capital-markets playbook to a corporate Ethereum treasury sitting on $9.2 billion in unrealized losses.
The Defiant•The Defiant Team4 Jun
Strategy is on a tear. Shares of the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder have surged more than 50% over the past month, riding the top crypto’s climb past $80,000 as short sellers scramble for the exits and institutional money pours back in. On Monday, MSTR jumped another 4% to nearly $184 per share, adding to a 7% surge on Friday. After-hours trading suggests the stock’s price has inched up at least another 2% ahead of Strategy’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. The rally comes amid renewed institutional demand. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds drew $827 million in the first two trading days of May alone, extending a two-month winning streak, DefiLlama data shows . Over $200 million in short positions were liquidated in a single day as the rally gathered pace. Strategy shares are seen as a leveraged bet on Bitcoin, and the firm's stock price closely tracks the top crypto. Bitcoin's rally above $80,000 is sound, according to Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen. He told DL News that the funding rate — a key measure of market temperature — sits at a healthy 0.00045% hourly, well below the overheated readings that typically precede a sharp correction. "With $2.4 billion in open interest and daily perpetual volume of $3.4 billion outpacing spot turnover, derivatives are clearly playing a significant role in price discovery around this level," Kennis said. "The moderate funding rate and balanced buy/sell ratio don't indicate extreme leverage build-up that would suggest a major pullback." Q1 earnings call All eyes now turn to Strategy's first quarter financial results. Consensus voices expect revenue of around $125 million, up from $115 million a year earlier, alongside an accounting loss tied to Bitcoin's price swings and financing costs. But investors are paying less attention to the income statement than to the capital markets machine Saylor has built underneath it. Strategy has quietly transformed from a software company with a Bitcoin position into a financing vehicle built to convert market demand into Bitcoin exposure. The engine driving that machine is STRC — Strategy's Bitcoin-backed preferred stock, paying a variable dividend of around 11.5% annually — which has grown to $8.5 billion in notional value in under nine months. "The world's $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world's roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market, and Strategy has built the first product to bridge the two," Michael Saylor, Strategy's founder and Executive Chairman, told the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week. BlackRock's iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a $210 million position in STRC. Saylor says the instrument has financed the acquisition of roughly 77,000 Bitcoin so far this year — ten times the net inflow of all US spot Bitcoin ETFs combined over the same period. “STRC is a battery that stores Bitcoin gains and distributes them over time,” said Strategy CEO Phong Le. Strategy did pause its Bitcoin buying streak ahead of Tuesday's earnings — only the second such break this year, according to Saylor. Its most recent purchase added 3,273 Bitcoin at an average price of around $77,900. Strategy is scheduled to release its first quarter financial results at 10 pm London time or 5 pm US Eastern time on Tuesday. Saylor has promised a live question-and-answer session, with notable guests to be announced. Crypto market movers Bitcoin is up 0.7% over the past 24 hours at $80,886. Ethereum is down 0.5% over the past few hours at $2,381. What we’re reading Aave secures emergency hearing to void ‘catastrophic’ restraining order — DL News Clarity Act odds surge on stablecoin compromise, Coinbase support — DL News World Liberty Financial Quietly Sold Billions in Tokens as Early Investors Remained Locked Out — Unchained $80K: we got there. Now what? — Milk Road Ethereum devs huddled in the Arctic Circle to fix the network. Here’s what to know — DL News Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com
Bitcoin punched through $80,000 on Monday, up 19% over the past month, as a twin engine of institutional demand and legislative momentum roars back to life. On the first day of May alone, $630 million poured into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, extending a two-month winning streak that made April the best month since October, DefiLlama data shows . ETF inflows have become the dominant force behind Bitcoin’s ascent, Max Kahn, CEO of investment adviser Digital Wealth Partners, told DL News . They now act as “an increasingly important source of consistent buying pressure,” helping the asset hold higher levels as long as institutional appetite remains intact. The institutional surge comes as Washington closes in on a legislative breakthrough. Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott told Fox Business on Friday that the Clarity Act — the landmark digital asset market structure bill — is heading for a bipartisan markup in May and a Senate floor vote soon after. ‘Red zone’ "We're in the red zone," Scott said, signalling the bill is nearing the Senate floor and that each procedural step strips away regulatory fog that has long restrained institutional capital. “I just want to have thirteen of thirteen Republicans on board,” he said. “That makes it easier for us to have a bipartisan markup – in May is my hope – and we’ll get this thing to the floor of the Senate.” Meanwhile, Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, is already ahead of the curve. Shares of Strategy surged over 7% on Friday as Bitcoin clawed toward $80,000, rewarding investors who endured a brutal stretch. At the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week, Saylor trained his sights beyond Bitcoin's price. His pitch centred on STRC — Strategy's Bitcoin-backed preferred stock — and a thesis that digital credit is set to reshape global capital markets. "The world's $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world's roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market," Saylor told the audience. BlackRock's iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a $210 million position in STRC, which has grown to $8.5 billion in under nine months. What comes next The macro calendar for May is stacked. Kevin Warsh's confirmation as the next Federal Reserve chair is imminent as Jerome Powell’s official term ends on May 15. Polymarket bettors put the odds of confirmation at 95%. The US jobs report on Friday is the main event, according to economist Ed Yardeni. Unemployment is expected to tick down to 4.2%, with jobless claims pointing to a healthy labour market, he wrote . Corporate earnings are also in focus — Palantir, AMD, McDonald's, and Arm all report this week. With 44% of S&P 500 companies already in, analysts now forecast 19.8% earnings growth for 2026, well ahead of recent years. Meanwhile, Nine Federal Reserve officials are speaking this week, with investors parsing every word for clues on rates. Inflation expectations are also due Thursday, with the New York Fed forecast to show a jump toward 4%. Crypto market movers Bitcoin is up 2.2% over the past 24 hours at $79,887. Ethereum is up 3% over the past few hours at $2,371. What we’re reading Anthropic’s new Mythos AI will hit crypto. Bitcoin investors don’t care, says Coinbase — DL News Crypto industry reels as April sees highest number of hacks ever — DL News New Bitcoin Wallet Offers Post-Quantum Protection Without a Fork — Unchained The AI margin trap — Milk Road DeFi lender Sky hits $124m revenue record. Yet token holders aren’t impressed — DL News Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com