Strategy Holds 848,517 BTC After a Year of Selling, Buybacks and Redefined Metrics

Strategy, the Virginia-based company formerly known as MicroStrategy, holds 848,517 Bitcoin acquired for $64.02 billion at an average price of $75,446, according to its latest SEC filing dated October 20, 2026 — the largest Bitcoin treasury among publicly traded companies and roughly 4% of total supply. With Bitcoin trading near $82,500, per Decrypt data, the position is worth about $70.3 billion, some $6.3 billion above cost.

Getting there wasn't pretty. The company spent 2026 dismantling parts of the playbook it invented.

What changed at Strategy in 2026?

The biggest shift was doctrinal. In May 2026, on the Q1 earnings call, CEO Phong Le abandoned the firm's long-held "never sell your Bitcoin" stance. "We will sell Bitcoin when it's advantageous to the company," Le said. "We're not going to sit back and just say, 'We'll never sell the Bitcoin.'"

Michael Saylor, co-founder and chair, framed the new goal as "never be a net seller." Days later, Strategy sold 32 BTC for about $2.5 million — its first sale since 2022.

The pressure behind the shift came from preferred stock. Strategy's Stretch (STRC) fell below its $100 par value in June 2026, exposing what analysts called a "structural crack" in the flywheel. The longer STRC traded below par, the greater the chance the company would have to choose between issuing new shares and selling Bitcoin to keep paying its dividend. STRC's dive also cut off a funding route Strategy had used to buy Bitcoin.

In June 2026, the company formalized the pivot with a "Digital Credit Capital Framework" and a "BTC Monetization Program" authorizing sales of up to $1.25 billion in BTC. CFO Andrew Kang said the framework gave flexibility to monetize Bitcoin "when BTC monetization is more advantageous than issuing common equity." Strategy also committed to not issuing common shares to buy Bitcoin unless the stock traded at a premium to its holdings.

It used the program fast. Between May and August 2026, Strategy sold 6,948 BTC for roughly $432.5 million — about $62,250 a coin — to fund preferred dividends and STRC buybacks. Other treasury firms sold too: MARA Holdings offloaded around 15,000 BTC in March 2026, and Riot Platforms sold more than $250 million of Bitcoin.

How did the numbers move?

Strategy's debt-funded buying drew scrutiny well before the sales. In November 2024, Robinhood-backed Sherwood Media flagged the "math problem": MSTR traded at 3x the value of its Bitcoin, with potential for forced liquidations in a drawdown. That premium, measured as mNAV, peaked at 3.89x in November 2024 and fell below 1 as Bitcoin dropped in 2026 — the market valued the company at less than its Bitcoin. MSTR fell roughly 70% in the six months to February 2026, and the company reported a $12.4 billion loss for Q4 2025.

In July 2026, Strategy overhauled its metrics, arguing that a shift from convertible debt toward preferred equity required what Saylor called "a new financial language." The centerpiece is "net Bitcoin per share": subtract what's owed to preferred stock and out-of-the-money convertible debt before dividing by the share count. Measured the old way, the stock traded at a discount; the new way put it near parity. On October 20, 2026, basic mNAV stood at 0.87, or 0.93 diluted — while Strategy's own redefined dashboard showed 1.12x.

The recovery came through equity, not Bitcoin. Strategy raised $334 million selling MSTR stock in the week to August 16, 2026, then $2.01 billion the following week. It bought 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million in late August — paying $80,318 per coin, some 29% more than it received on its summer sales — and by end of September held a record 847,666 BTC.

Cash reserves backstop the structure. As of October 18, 2026, the USD Reserve — designated for preferred dividends and debt interest — held $4.83 billion, with a separate unrestricted USD Cash account at $447.3 million. Since August, most of that cash has gone to STRC buybacks, running near $200 million a week against Bitcoin purchases of $20-30 million. On October 19, 2026, the board raised the repurchase cap to $3 billion. STRC traded at $99.05 on October 20 — still below par, per Yahoo Finance.

What's next for the Bitcoin treasury giant?

Two dates matter. Common shareholders can vote until October 28, 2026 on a proposal to make dividends on STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD accrue every calendar day, moving STRC from 24 record dates a year to 365. And on October 15, 2026, MSCI finalized a rule making "non-operating companies" dominated by a single asset ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes — effective at the close of November 30, 2026, with the affected list due November 11. Index funds held 3.1% of Strategy's basic shares as of early September; removal would force them to sell.