NEW YORK, June 24, 2026, 11:15 (EDT)
- Strategy common shares dropped around 5% late morning in U.S. trading. STRC remained far under its $100 par.
- Julio Moreno at CryptoQuant said Strategy should halt bitcoin buys and focus on building up its dollar reserve.
- Strategy unloaded $335.5 million in common stock last week and picked up 520 bitcoin.
Strategy Inc shares dropped Wednesday, tumbling further after reaching a two-year low at the last close. The company’s preferred shares faced renewed strain, raising more doubts about how Michael Saylor’s bitcoin-focused firm will fund new buys without additional losses for holders.
The common stock dropped about 5.2% to $98.45 as of 11:00 a.m. in New York. It lost 5.1% on Tuesday, putting it at its lowest close in over two years, market data and the Wall Street Journal show. STRC, Strategy’s variable-rate preferred stock Stretch, shed roughly 3.2% to $84.56. That’s under its $100 par value. Bitcoin hovered at $60,817, off by about 2.3%.
Julio Moreno, who heads research at CryptoQuant, told Bloomberg Strategy should halt bitcoin purchases if it wants confidence back in its stock. He said the company needs to build up its dollar cash reserves instead of buying bitcoin every time it gets new capital. “Buying at cycle tops and accumulating during bear markets has resulted in rapid unrealized loss growth and deteriorating STRC fundamentals,” Moreno said. Bloomberg Law
Strategy’s U.S. dollar reserve is down 38% since early 2026, CryptoQuant said. At the same time, annual dividend obligations jumped to $1.2 billion, about four times higher. That pushed dividend coverage from over seven years to just 14 months, according to CoinDesk, citing CryptoQuant.
Strategy said on June 22 it sold 2,714,839 common shares in the market from June 15 through June 21, raising $335.5 million in net proceeds through an at-the-market program. The company said it used the money to buy 520 bitcoin for $34.9 million, paying an average price of $67,068 for each bitcoin.
Strategy’s SEC filing put its bitcoin stash at 847,363 as of June 21. The company bought that haul for $64.10 billion, or about $75,651 per coin on average. The filing also showed a dollar reserve of $1.4 billion, counting cash expected from yet-to-settle ATM sales.
Stretch is offering an 11.50% annual dividend, paid out in cash twice a month. Strategy says the dividend rate resets each month to keep trading close to the $100 par price. Preferred stock holders usually get their dividends before common stock, but Strategy says there’s no guarantee on the cash payout and these preferred shares aren’t backed by its bitcoin.
Strategy’s effort to sell preferred stock to retail buyers is hitting problems, Barron’s said. STRC is trading over 10% under par, sending its yield up to around 13%. That size of yield usually means investors want more payout to cover risk.
Benchmark’s Mark Palmer pushed back on talk comparing STRC to Terra’s collapsed stablecoin and told CoinDesk Strategy’s funding engine is “less efficient” now but not broken. CoinDesk
Strategy holds much more bitcoin than other public bitcoin-treasury names. BitcoinTreasuries shows Strategy with 847,363 bitcoin. That’s ahead of Twenty One Capital at 43,514, Metaplanet at 40,177, and MARA Holdings with 36,303.
But pausing won’t end the main risk. If bitcoin bounces, Strategy buys less after the drop. If bitcoin drops again, new share sales could dilute holders, and a forced bitcoin sale now would lock in losses. CryptoQuant said any forced sale would “destroy shareholder value.” CoinDesk
