New York, March 3, 2026, 12:06 (EST) — Regular session.
- Strategy (MSTR) slipped roughly 2.6% by midday, following a sharp early-session swing.
- A fresh filing showed $204.1 million spent on bitcoin, with funding drawn from stock sales and a boost to the STRC dividend rate.
- Bitcoin’s direction is in focus, with eyes also on the March 15 record date for preferred dividends.
Strategy Inc slipped 2.6% to $134.11 around midday Tuesday. Shares had ranged from $127.86 up to $136.00 earlier. The bitcoin-centric firm carried a roughly $91 billion valuation.
That shift is significant—traders see Strategy as a kind of leveraged stand-in for bitcoin. The stock typically amplifies the token’s swings. Especially when markets are unsettled, how those bitcoin purchases are financed becomes even more important.
Strategy calls bitcoin its main treasury reserve asset, channeling funds from both equity and debt deals to buy more. That leaves investors tracking each fresh cash raise and the price tag attached.
Strategy snapped up 3,015 bitcoin between Feb. 23 and March 1, forking out $204.1 million, or roughly $67,700 per token after fees, according to a regulatory filing signed March 2. That brings total holdings to 720,737 bitcoin acquired for $54.77 billion in all, with the average buy price now standing at $75,985. The company funded these latest purchases with $237.1 million in net proceeds from sales of common shares and its STRC “Stretch” preferred stock through an at-the-market program. The board approved a boost to STRC’s annualized dividend, raising it to 11.50% from 11.25%—a bump of 25 basis points. Preferred dividends are set for payment March 31 to shareholders of record as of March 15, and Strategy anticipates classifying those payouts as return of capital for U.S. federal tax purposes, depending on investors’ basis. SEC
With an ATM program, companies get the flexibility to sell shares piecemeal into the market, sidestepping the need for a one-off transaction. That means quicker access to cash. The tradeoff? Persistent selling risks increasing dilution for ordinary shareholders.
Bitcoin slipped roughly 2.1% to $67,956 on Tuesday, dragging down U.S. crypto stocks. Shares of Coinbase dropped 3.1%. Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, both major bitcoin miners, tumbled 6.7% and 6.8%.
Strategy, which rebranded from MicroStrategy in 2025, adopted the streamlined name as it sharpened its focus on bitcoin and software. Its Nasdaq ticker, MSTR, remains unchanged.
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor says opting for preferred shares gives the company room to snap up more bitcoin, without putting so much pressure on common stock. “The more Stretch we sell, the more Bitcoin goes up in price,” he told investors during a company event, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg.com
CEO Phong Le echoed that sentiment. “We will start to transition from equity capital to preferred capital,” Le told Cointelegraph, describing the funding blend Strategy taps for its acquisitions. TradingView
But there’s risk on the flip side. If bitcoin keeps dropping, Strategy’s shares could tumble even harder than the coin itself, and a soft market can push new financing costs higher—or even dry up options—precisely as those dividend bills start stacking up.
Investors are eyeing whether Strategy can keep pulling in sizable amounts of cash without knocking down its share price. On days when bitcoin drops, the spread between the company’s average bitcoin cost and the spot price can make sentiment swings even sharper.
March 15 stands out—the record date for the next batch of preferred-stock dividends, which hit on March 31. On top of that, traders have their eye on whether the company says anything about new bitcoin buys or tweaks to its ATM issuance later in the week.
