Strategy built STRC, a preferred stock that pays a 12% annual dividend, to raise money for bitcoin purchases. It has not raised any new money through STRC since May.
In late June, STRC closed as low as $74.57, about 25% below the $100 level it was designed to trade near. Strategy began buying the stock back in late July and has kept doing so every week since then. By Unchained’s count, based on the company’s weekly filings, it has spent $1.6 billion on those repurchases. On Tuesday, STRC closed at $99.90.
Last week was Strategy’s biggest week of STRC repurchases so far. The company spent $192.4 million on STRC, about nine times what it spent on bitcoin. STRC is now within 10 cents of its $100 target, and under Strategy’s current policy the company will not sell a new STRC share until it gets there.
Sales stopped after STRC fell below $100
Preferred stocks such as STRC are meant to raise capital. When STRC trades at or above its $100 stated amount, Strategy can issue new shares, pay buyers a dividend twice a month, and use the proceeds to buy bitcoin.
That structure was still working in mid-May. Strategy’s last STRC sale came in the week of May 11, when it raised about $1.95 billion. STRC then closed below $100 on May 15, and new sales stopped.
Unchained said in its Aug. 6 issue that one question to watch was whether Strategy’s buybacks could keep pushing STRC back toward $100. At this point, the stock has almost made it there.
Is the buyback loop running out of cash?
Unchained’s answer was no, not yet.
At last week’s pace, the board-authorized budget for buying back Strategy’s preferred stock would run out in about two weeks. Still, the board can increase that budget. The report noted that it did so in September, when it doubled the authorization to $2 billion.
The cash used for repurchases can also be replenished. At last week’s pace, it would last a little more than three weeks. Unchained said Strategy has paid for the buybacks mostly by selling MSTR shares, either directly or through a cash pile built from those sales, and that it can sell more.
A bitcoin funding tool has turned into something Strategy is supporting
Strategy built itself into the largest corporate bitcoin holder on the view that dollars would lose value over the long run and that investors wanted access to a leveraged bitcoin bet. It launched a series of preferred stocks to fund more bitcoin purchases.
STRC, though, has become something the company is now spending money to support. Much of the cash raised from MSTR sales has gone to retiring STRC instead of buying bitcoin. Unchained also said Strategy sold bitcoin this summer to help fund the repurchases.
As long as MSTR trades above about $131, that does not hurt MSTR holders on a net basis, according to the report, but it does make MSTR a less leveraged bitcoin bet.
How Strategy bought STRC back toward $100
Strategy laid out a measured approach to supporting STRC in its second-quarter earnings release, around the time the buybacks began. The company said it would keep purchasing while STRC traded below $100, buy more when the discount was deeper, and taper purchases as the stock approached par.
In its first week, in late July, Strategy moved cautiously. It bought about $25 million of STRC on the open market at roughly $87 per share. From there, the weekly outlay increased as the price climbed.
Last week, Strategy paid an average of $99.58 for STRC, inside the $99 to $100 range it has identified as its objective.
The report said the weekly data cover the periods ending July 26 through Oct. 11, 2026, and track both Strategy’s weekly STRC repurchases and the average price paid. Average price was calculated by dividing dollars spent by shares repurchased. The source was Strategy’s 8-K filings and Unchained analysis.
Strategy has become a major force in STRC trading
By design, this program has also made Strategy a large participant in STRC’s own market. Crypto market maker Keyrock said Strategy’s repurchases accounted for roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of STRC’s weekly trading volume in September.
Keyrock also said its data cannot show how much demand would remain without that support.
The rest of Unchained’s article is behind a subscription. Its preview said subscribers would get additional details on what Strategy gets for spending $192 million a week at $99.58, why $100 matters so much, where the money has come from since July including MSTR sales that went straight to STRC, why selling MSTR to retire STRC does not dilute holders on a net measure at today’s prices and what it still costs them, what Strategy owes STRC holders if it stops supporting the stock and STRC falls back from $100, and the bull, base, and bear ranges for STRC and MSTR along with the dates that would decide between them.
