Peter Schiff Says Strategy (MSTR) Lost Its Bitcoin (BTC) Buying Power, STRC Near $99.4

Peter Schiff argues that Strategy (MicroStrategy) (MSTR) has lost the issuance channel that financed its preferred stock-funded Bitcoin (BTC) purchases, even as the company's Stretch (STRC) security climbs back toward its $100 par value. Speaking on his October 2 podcast, the longtime Bitcoin critic said STRC trades near $99.4, a recovery he admitted surprised him. He credited Strategy's weekly STRC buybacks and the recent Bitcoin (BTC) price rebound for the move, suggesting the rally either restored confidence in the preferred shares or pushed short sellers to cover their positions. Schiff, who has criticized the asset for more than a decade, framed the rebound as a byproduct of financial engineering rather than a durable fix. Earlier this year the preferred security had sunk to about $75, a slide chief executive Phong Le blamed on unexpected leverage. The recovery has not reopened Strategy's main funding route, in Schiff's view. He said there is no way the company can start selling more Stretch again, which in his judgment means it cannot raise fresh money to buy more Bitcoin (BTC). Schiff added that Strategy has raised enough liquidity to keep paying STRC dividends a little longer before the cash runs out, but no longer holds the machinery for additional coin purchases. Michael Saylor, the executive chairman, offered a contrasting read on October 3. He noted that STRC's 30-day historical volatility stood at 9% as of October 2, below the 10% reading for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and presented that gap as evidence the company can harness Bitcoin while lowering volatility for income investors. Schiff reads the same calm trading as temporary. The timing matters because Strategy typically discloses weekly purchases on Monday, so the next filing will test whether the accumulation program still has a working funding source at all.

Strategy's regulatory disclosures give Schiff's claim a factual backbone. The company's weekly SEC filing shows the last STRC sale through its at-the-market program, the shelf arrangement that lets a listed issuer drip-feed new shares into the open market, ran between May 11 and May 17 and raised about $1.95 billion. The remaining STRC capacity has held at roughly $17.51 billion in every filing since, meaning no further preferred shares have been sold. Strategy then paused Bitcoin (BTC) buying for 10 weeks over the summer and sold coins instead to fund dividends and STRC repurchases. When accumulation resumed in late August, other funding sources carried the program: sales of class A common stock (MSTR) financed 4,603 BTC in that week and another 1,665 BTC in late September, while in between the company spent $75.7 million from its USD Cash account to buy 950 BTC, per the mid-September filing. Common stock proceeds also flow back into the preferred share. Between September 21 and 27, Strategy directed $103.5 million from MSTR share sales into STRC buybacks. The company additionally held a $5.02 billion USD Reserve as of September 27, a pool it says exists to support preferred dividends and debt interest. Those disclosures match Schiff's description of a firm financing coin accumulation from common equity rather than from the preferred channel that once did the job. His second premise, that Bitcoin falls once technology stocks weaken, would add pressure from the other side: a falling coin shrinks collateral value and dulls demand for new common share sales. The broader Bitcoin technical analysis trend therefore feeds directly into the question of how long common stock sales can keep funding purchases.

COINOTAG data frames the stakes for the listed stock. Strategy (MSTR) last trades at $165.03, up 0.87% over 24 hours, with COINOTAG's composite scoring the strongest support at $162.32 (72/100) and resistance at $173.08 (66/100); the daily RSI reads 63.8 while the MACD signal is bearish. The stock's funding rate of 0.0648% and open interest near $89.6 million point to an active, leveraged derivatives book. Our earlier coverage tracked ETF flows swinging to a $985 million net inflow for 2026, and the next Monday filing will show whether common stock sales still carry Strategy's buying.