Strategy Inc. shares moved lower in mid-day trading, trading down nearly 5.9% to $109.72 after its STRC preferred stock sank to an all-time low of $89. The tumble in the preferred has disrupted a principal funding route the company uses to raise capital for buying bitcoin, and because STRC is now trading beneath its $100 par value, Strategy has suspended new issuances under its at-the-market (ATM) program - a measure that reduces the company’s ability to continue adding to its bitcoin holdings.
The plunge in STRC followed a notable shift in Strategy’s cash management. In late May the company sold 32 bitcoin for roughly $2.5 million to meet STRC dividend distributions. That sale marked the first time Strategy had sold any bitcoin since it began accumulating in 2022, and it stood in contrast to the long-standing public vow by Chairman Michael Saylor not to sell holdings.
Investors also appear to be shifting toward alternative yield products. Strive’s SATA preferred stock, trading above $99 and providing a 13.69% yield, has attracted income-oriented buyers away from Strategy’s preferred, exacerbating pressure on STRC. Analysts at Benchmark and TD Cowen have pushed back on more extreme fears of a broader capital-structure "death spiral," but they noted the sale of bitcoin to fund dividends represented a clear deviation from Strategy’s prior approach.
Macro developments added to the negative tone for crypto-linked securities. On June 17 the Federal Reserve voted 12-0 to hold the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%. While the decision itself was expected, the Fed’s dot plot showed a shift in expectations: nine of 18 FOMC members projected at least one rate hike before the end of 2026. That hawkish undertone weighed on bitcoin and crypto-adjacent equities even as the broader U.S. equity market moved higher on the same day.
Bitcoin sits near $64,000, and Strategy's concentrated bitcoin position carries an unrealized loss relative to its average purchase price. The company’s portfolio shows an approximate paper loss of $11,658 per coin versus its average acquisition cost, a metric that has dampened sentiment toward the common shares.
The immediate practical implication is straightforward: unless STRC can climb back above its $100 par value, Strategy’s primary mechanism for raising cash to buy bitcoin will remain constrained. That constraint removes a central tailwind from the firm’s equity story. The common stock’s recent decline reflects this feedback loop - weakness in STRC increases perceived risk around the company’s treasury strategy, which in turn pressures the common equity. Given the high beta of Strategy’s common shares to bitcoin, even modest weakness in BTC has produced amplified declines in the stock.
For now, market participants will be watching both the trading level of STRC relative to par and any future capital-marketing steps Strategy may take. Until STRC reclaims par or an alternative funding solution is implemented, the company faces limited ability to resume its prior cadence of bitcoin accumulation.