NEW YORK, Jan 7, 2026, 07:12 EST — Premarket
- Strategy shares rose in premarket trade after MSCI said it will keep “digital asset treasury companies” in its indexes for now
- MSCI will start a broader review of how it treats non-operating companies
- Traders are also watching U.S. labor data due later Wednesday and on Friday
Shares of Strategy rose about 4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after MSCI dropped a proposal that could have pushed the bitcoin-heavy company out of its benchmarks. “We suspect exclusion is postponed until later in the year,” JonesTrading chief market strategist Mike O’Rourke said. Reuters
The move matters because Strategy sits in a wide range of index-tracking portfolios. A removal from major indexes can force passive funds to sell, adding pressure to a stock that already trades like a high-volatility proxy for bitcoin.
MSCI’s decision also buys time for a fast-growing corner of the market: “digital asset treasury companies,” or DATCOs. MSCI defines them as firms whose digital asset holdings represent 50% or more of total assets, a structure that has drawn scrutiny over whether they behave more like operating companies or investment vehicles.
In a statement late Tuesday, MSCI said it will not implement its exclusion proposal as part of the February 2026 index review and will open a broader consultation on non-operating companies. For now, it said current index treatment for DATCOs on its preliminary list will remain unchanged, while it defers certain index-related changes for those securities.
Strategy fell 4.1% in the previous regular session to $157.97. Bitcoin was down about 2% on Wednesday morning, weighing on sentiment across crypto-linked equities.
Beyond the MSCI decision, traders are watching labor-market data that could reset bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts. “Further weakness would support rate-cut expectations,” Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya wrote, while stronger figures could “revive the hawks.” Reuters
But the relief may prove short-lived. MSCI’s broader review leaves open the possibility that some crypto-heavy companies end up treated more like funds than operating businesses, a shift that could revive forced-selling fears. Any fresh slide in bitcoin would add to the downside risk for Strategy’s shares.
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