Strategy Buys $2.54B in Bitcoin as STRC Trades Surge

Strategy purchased $2.54 billion of Bitcoin last week, acquiring about 34,200 BTC and lifting its total holdings to roughly 815,000 Bitcoin. Using a Bitcoin price near $75,400, the company’s Bitcoin stockpile was valued at about $61.4 billion.

The purchase coincided with heavy trading in Strategy’s dividend-paying preferred share, STRC, as investors bought ahead of the ex-dividend date. The company has issued nearly $2.2 billion of STRC, which pays an 11.5% monthly dividend and was designed to trade around $100. STRC’s ex-dividend date passed last Wednesday.

In the 10 trading days before the cutoff, STRC traded at or above $100. The preferred share is now valued at about $8.5 billion. Market participants and some former critics pointed to dividend-capture activity-buying immediately before the ex-dividend date and selling shortly after-as a driver of the volume and price action around the payout.

Andy Constan, founder of research firm Damped Spring Advisors and a former critic, wrote on X that “Dudes I know were all in [STRC] leveraged long last night and have never done a div capture trade in their life,” highlighting heightened retail and leveraged interest ahead of the dividend.

Days before the Bitcoin purchase, Strategy sold $3 billion of convertible bonds due in 2029. Those bonds include conversion terms that allow holders to swap into common shares if the stock reaches $672.40. The company’s stock was about $163 before Monday’s open and near $166 by Friday.

Executive Chairman Michael Saylor posted to X urging followers to “Think Even Bigger” and wrote that it is “impossible to blockade Bitcoin.” On Friday he proposed changing STRC’s dividend schedule to semi-monthly payments, writing that the change would “stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand.”

On the Myriad prediction market, traders assigned a 13% probability that Strategy would reduce its Bitcoin holdings this year, down from a 31% probability recorded on Feb. 1.

Strategy began accumulating Bitcoin in 2020 and has become one of the largest corporate holders of the asset. The preferred share STRC was created to provide a dividend-linked product tied to the company’s Bitcoin exposure and has drawn trading focus around ex-dividend dates.