Strategy (MSTR) Spends $368.7M on STRC Buybacks, Outpacing Its Bitcoin (BTC) Purchases

A July Rule Meets Its Reversal

Michael Saylor set out a simple rule on July 27, with STRC trading in the $80 range: Strategy would keep buying its own preferred stock 'in a regular and disciplined way' below $100, purchase more as the discount widened and less as the shares closed in on par. That day the company retired 288,930 shares for $25 million at an average of $86.52. The past two weeks have run that rule in reverse. Regulatory filings show Strategy spent $368.7 million repurchasing its STRC 'Stretch' preferred between September 28 and October 11, against roughly $50.2 million on Bitcoin (BTC), a seven-to-one tilt toward its own paper over its usual Bitcoin accumulation.

The escalation tracked the preferred's climb toward face value. From September 28 to September 30, the company bought back 1,033,168 shares for $102.6 million at about $99.31 each and picked up no bitcoin at all. From October 1 to October 4 it added 740,634 shares for $73.7 million near $99.51, alongside 334 BTC for $28.7 million. From October 5 to October 11 it retired 1,932,145 shares for $192.4 million at roughly $99.58, adding just 250 BTC for $21.5 million. STRC closed Monday at $99.88, its highest finish since May and a recovery from the June low of $71.25; the stock last closed at $100 on May 14. Saylor's Monday post confirmed the latest week's trades and fixed the treasury at 848,250 BTC, a disclosure some critics met with the words 'another broken promise'. The Bitcoin (BTC) price itself has stayed steady through the rotation: the coin traded near $83,300 when Monday's disclosures landed and now changes hands at $83,628, up 1.2% over 24 hours, per COINOTAG data.

Our composite scoring frames the backdrop this rotation is leaning against: bitcoin's strongest support sits at $80,947, rated 95 out of 100, while resistance at $84,477 scores 85, with the coin in a daily uptrend and an RSI of 53.37. Positioning is quiet, with the perpetual funding rate at 0.0058% and open interest near $15.8 billion. The coin's support and resistance levels matter directly for Strategy's latest entry: the 250 Bitcoin (BTC) bought last week at $86,194 sit above spot, and a push through $84,477 would put that batch back in profit.

Why $100 Is Written Into the Dividend Policy

The weight behind $100 is contractual. Strategy's September 30 filing states the company will hold STRC's dividend at 12% a year until it can sustain a price near $100, a condition management wrote into its own payout policy. Retiring shares also shrinks the bill: the 3,705,947 shares bought back carry $12 in annual dividends each, trimming roughly $44.5 million a year in obligations. Scale does the rest. Trading records put Strategy at about 30% of the preferred's turnover last week, enough for a single buyer to hold the tape, and the company is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, a crypto whale in any market it touches.

The war chest is the constraint. The preferred repurchase program held $620.9 million on September 30, $547.2 million on October 4 and $354.8 million as of October 11; at last week's pace, that is under two weeks of buying left. Saylor had pointed to $975 million of capacity as recently as July. The listed parent itself is steadier: COINOTAG data shows Strategy (MicroStrategy) (MSTR) at $154.05, essentially flat over 24 hours, with the strongest composite support at $142.07, rated 93 out of 100, though the MSTR daily MACD signal still reads bearish. The treasury math frames the stakes: Strategy's average cost across all 848,250 Bitcoin (BTC) stands at $75,444, its posture is the corporate form of HODL, and Saylor, whose Bitcoin maximalism has defined the company for years, posted on Monday that the shorts have been handled. Three dates now set the calendar. October 15 is the record date for STRC's $0.50 dividend, payable October 31, and the day Strategy intends to declare a November daily dividend if the switch clears. On October 28, a special meeting votes on the daily-dividend change, which Strategy says is designed to pull STRC closer to $100. Next Monday's filings then answer the only question the July rule left open: whether buying shrinks at par, as promised, or the remaining $354.8 million keeps flowing into a stock that has already arrived.