Strategy’s STRC Returns to $100 After $2 Billion in Buybacks

By Daniel Okafor

Strategy’s Stretch preferred stock (STRC) touched $100 for the first time since May after more than $2 billion in buybacks, according to Bitcoin Magazine.

The return to par restores the level at which Strategy says it will resume issuing new shares, a mechanism that funds its bitcoin purchases. Chairman Michael Saylor had pledged to keep STRC at or above $100 and its dividend at 12% until it reached that level.

STRC traded below $80 at times in June, far below its stated value. Strategy spent more than $2 billion on buybacks and raised its dividend rate over five months to defend par, including $204.9 million spent on STRC alone.

What changed in the dividend?

Shareholders approved daily dividends on STRC and three other preferred series on Oct. 28 by a 99.3% vote. The change removed the semi-monthly ex-dividend drops that had added volatility, and Strategy made the first daily payment Monday.

Strategy’s Oct. 29 filing set November’s dividend rate at 12% annualized, or $1 per share for the month. Shares of Strategy (MSTR) rose more than 7% as bitcoin moved above $80,000.

How does STRC fund bitcoin purchases?

STRC, formally the Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred, launched in July 2025 at $90 with a 9% starting rate. Saylor called it the company’s “iPhone moment.”

Strategy adjusts the dividend each month to hold STRC near $100, sells new shares above par and uses the proceeds to buy bitcoin. STRC became the largest tradable preferred in the world, with a market value above $8 billion.

CEO Phong Le has put the retail share of the holder base at about 80%. That places the reopened issuance in front of a predominantly retail investor base, making buyer demand the central operational question.

How did the funding loop break?

STRC fell below par in late January as bitcoin moved toward $65,000. Strategy raised the rate in three steps:

• 11.25% in February
• 11.5% in March
• 12% by summer

The price kept sliding. At $89, Strategy’s at-the-market share-sale program sat idle, cutting off the company’s cheapest funding.

In late May, Strategy sold 32 BTC for about $2.5 million to cover a Stretch distribution, its first bitcoin sale since 2022. Critics raised the prospect of a “death spiral”; analysts at Benchmark and TD Cowen disputed that assessment.

Strategy paused bitcoin purchases during the week of Oct. 19 and spent $204.9 million on STRC, part of roughly $2.25 billion it has retired since the discount opened. Each share bought below $100 reduced the number of shares outstanding and the dividend bill at the same time.

How much cushion sits under the treasury?

Strategy holds 849,327 BTC after adding 811 coins last week, at an average cost of about $75,446. With bitcoin near $78,300 on Wednesday, the position stood about 4% above water.

The company reported $20.91 billion in third-quarter operating income, almost all of it unrealized gains, alongside a negative year-to-date BTC yield and a chief financial officer stepping down. Those results sit alongside a preferred stack whose dividends remain due regardless of market conditions.

STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD together carry annual dividends in the hundreds of millions. The quarter’s 5,552 BTC sales funded the preferred obligations and buybacks. At par, new preferred issuance can meet those obligations without selling coins; at $89, it cannot.

Can issuance resume at $100?

Returning to par removes the discount that kept the at-the-market program closed, but it leaves demand for new supply unanswered. The funding mechanism now depends on whether buyers take new STRC shares, with November’s annualized dividend set at 12%.

The next test is whether Strategy reopens the program at $100 and whether the market absorbs the resulting issuance.