Effective Yield, BTC Coverage and BTC Price at 1× Explained

Short answer: The effective yield tells you how much dividend you get per year at today's price. BTC coverage tells you how many times the company's bitcoin could pay all claims up to and including your security. The BTC price at 1× is the bitcoin price below which that bitcoin is no longer enough. Together they show income and safety margin.

A bitcoin preferred stock promises you 10, 12 or 15% a year. Whether that is a good deal, the number alone doesn't tell you. Only BTC coverage and the BTC price at 1× show how much bitcoin stands behind the promise and how far bitcoin can fall before things get tight. Here you'll learn to read the three columns of the Digital Credit overview, what they leave out and how to put them in context together with today's figures.

The three key figures in one sentence

Every row of the Digital Credit overview asks you three questions:

The first figure describes your income. The other two describe the same thing from two sides: the safety margin. How bitcoin preferred stocks work in principle is explained in the guide Digital Credit explained.

Effective yield: what you really get

Every preferred stock has a stated amount, usually $100, and a dividend rate, for example 10%. From that follows the dividend: $10 a year per share. It stays the same no matter what the share costs on the exchange.

But you buy at the market price. If you pay $67.50 instead of $100, you get the same $10 for less money. Your effective yield rises to 14.8%. If you pay $101.81, it falls to 9.8%.

Same rate, very different yield

Three Strategy securities all pay 10% on their stated amount. On the market they still deliver very different things:

As of Nov 13, 2026, closing prices from Yahoo Finance, coverage at a BTC price of €64’123. Live values: Digital Credit overview.

The difference is no accident. STRF is at the very front and is best covered. STRD is at the very back, and a missed dividend on STRD is not made up. For this risk, buyers demand a lower price and thus more yield. The details on all four securities are in STRF, STRK, STRD, STRE compared.

Rule to remember: The effective yield is the price the market demands for the risk. Where it is strikingly high, ask why first.

What the effective yield doesn't show

• Variable rates change. For STRC and SATA, the yield only applies to the current monthly rate. How STRC adjusts its rate is explained in STRC (Stretch) explained.
• Price gains or losses are missing. If you buy STRK at $67 and later sell at $90, you earn more than the dividend. If the price falls, you lose.
• Redemption by the issuer. If you buy well above the redemption price, the company can take the security off your hands for less than you paid.
• Currency. Most securities pay in dollars. If the dollar falls 10% against the euro or franc, your income in your currency falls 10% as well. STRE pays in euros and doesn't have this risk for investors in the eurozone.

BTC coverage: how much bitcoin stands behind your security

A bitcoin preferred stock is not a pledge on specific bitcoin. It is a claim against the company. If things go wrong, claims are paid in a fixed order: first the debt, then the preferred stocks by rank, and finally the common stock.

BTC coverage therefore asks: how many times could the company's bitcoin pay everything that ranks ahead of or alongside your security, your security included? At 3×, the bitcoin is worth three times these claims. At 1×, it is exactly enough.

The important words are up to here. A security's coverage counts everything senior to it. That's why a company's front-most security always has the highest coverage and the rearmost the lowest. How the tiers stack up for each issuer is shown in the capital structure by issuer.

What BTC coverage doesn't show

• Cash and other assets are missing. Only bitcoin is counted. Strive, for example, holds around $490 million in cash, which is not included in the coverage of SATA and SATS. The real situation is therefore somewhat better, if anything.
• Debt counts in full. Convertible notes are included at their full amount, even if they may later be converted into shares.
• The figure moves. If a company sells new preferred stock, the claims rise. If it buys bitcoin with the money, the holdings rise too. We calculate with the last reported figures; the date is shown for each issuer.
• Coverage is not solvency. It measures the balance sheet, not whether the dividend arrives on time. Companies mostly pay dividends from cash and from selling new shares. The risks that follow from this are in Digital Credit explained.

BTC price at 1×: how far bitcoin can fall

Coverage only applies at today's bitcoin price. If bitcoin falls by half, coverage halves too. That's why there is a second figure that doesn't depend on the daily price: the BTC price at 1×.

It is the bitcoin price at which the company's bitcoin just covers all claims up to and including your security. If bitcoin falls below it, your repayment in a worst case depends on the company's other resources. The gap between today's price and this price is your buffer.

BTC coverage and yield of all securities compared

This is what the three key figures look like on Nov 13, 2026, for all traded bitcoin preferred stocks, sorted by coverage. The last column shows how far bitcoin would have to fall from today's price for coverage to reach 1×.

As of Nov 13, 2026, BTC price €64’123 (CHF 59’198), closing prices of Nov 12, 2026 (Yahoo Finance), holdings and claims per the issuers' filings with the reference date on the Digital Credit page.

Two things stand out. First: coverage alone doesn't explain the yield. MORE yields more at 5.67× than STRC at 3.72×; behind that are a much smaller issuer, little trading and pounds instead of dollars. Second: SATS offers the highest yield and the smallest buffer. How that fits together at Strive is shown in Strive SATA and SATS explained.

The chart yield vs. coverage shows the same securities as dots: further right means more coverage, higher up means more yield. Whatever sits at the top left is paying you for risk.

Stress test: what happens if bitcoin falls?

Coverage falls in the same proportion as bitcoin. You can play this through for every security yourself:

Our own calculation, as of Nov 13, 2026, with holdings and claims unchanged.

In earlier bear markets, bitcoin fell around 77 to 93% from its high. A 50% decline is therefore no extreme case for bitcoin. SATS would then no longer be fully covered, and SATA would be just above.

The floor as a second yardstick

The Power Law model provides a line below which bitcoin has hardly ever closed so far: the floor. On Nov 13, 2026, it was at €60’571 (CHF 55’920), only 6% below the price. It is calculated according to the methodology.

If the BTC price at 1× is well below the floor, the security would still have a buffer even at the model's low point. Today that is true for all securities. For SATS the gap is smallest: bitcoin would have to fall 27% below the floor. For STRF it would be 86%.

The floor is a model, not a guarantee. But it shifts the view from the daily price to the question that matters: does the security hold up in a bad year too?

How to read the three key figures together

1. Look at the yield and ask why. If it is above the rate, the price is below the stated amount. Find the reason: rank, rule on missed dividends, currency, small issuer.
2. Check BTC coverage. Below 2×, your claim already depends on bitcoin not halving.
3. Compare the BTC price at 1× with the floor. If it is near the floor or above it, you have hardly any buffer in the model.
4. Read the reference date. Holdings and claims come from the last filing. If the company has issued a lot since then, coverage may be lower.
5. Look up the terms. Cumulative or not, fixed or variable, redemption price: the Digital Credit glossary explains the terms.

Work out how much cash flow your amount generates at a given yield here: