Strategy Stock (MSTR): The No. 1 Bitcoin Company Explained

Short answer: Strategy stock (MSTR, formerly MicroStrategy) is a share in the largest corporate bitcoin holder. Strategy owns 849’327 BTC, about 4% of all bitcoin, and buys them with money from new shares, convertible bonds and preferred stock. One share contains 0.002 BTC on paper. Because debt and preferred stock come first, it swings more than bitcoin (as of Nov 12, 2026).

You're looking for bitcoin for your stock portfolio, and you almost certainly end up at Strategy. Since 2020, Strategy stock has grown ninefold in value, bitcoin sixfold. Since its peak in November 2024, though, it has lost three quarters, bitcoin less than half. Here you see what you actually buy with an MSTR share, how the machine behind it runs and why 2026 is a difficult year for Strategy.

What is Strategy?

Strategy Inc. is a US company from Tysons Corner, Virginia. Michael Saylor co-founded it in 1989 as MicroStrategy, a provider of business analytics software. That software still exists and brings in about $500 million in revenue a year. It hardly matters for the share price.

Since August 2020, Strategy has mainly been a bitcoin holding company. Back then the firm bought 21’454 BTC for $250 million to protect its cash reserve from currency debasement. In February 2025 it renamed itself Strategy. How this kind of company works in general is explained in the overview Bitcoin treasury companies.

Source: Strategy's SEC filings (8-K, 10-Q). The data from 2024 and 2025 comes from the company's press releases.

How much bitcoin is in one Strategy share?

The easiest way to understand Strategy stock is to convert it into bitcoin. Strategy has 422.4 million common shares and 849’327 BTC. So each share stands for 0.002011 BTC, about 201’000 sats.

On Nov 12, 2026, one MSTR share cost $114.41 (€103.43 or CHF 95.42). The bitcoin in it was worth about €128.75. At first glance you get the bitcoin at a 20% discount. This ratio is called mNAV, here 0.80×.

But the discount is only apparent. Ahead of the shareholders stand $6.71 billion of debt and five preferred stocks with $12.26 billion and €0.78 billion of stated amount. Subtract those, and the common shareholders own only about 67% of the bitcoin net, about 135’000 sats per share. Net, you pay about 1.20× the value of that bitcoin.

What mNAV reveals about expensive and cheap treasury stocks, and how it has moved for Strategy since 2022, is in the article mNAV explained. The live figures for Strategy are on the Strategy page of the treasury overview.

How Strategy buys bitcoin

Strategy doesn't earn enough from software to buy billions in bitcoin. The money comes from the capital markets. That's why Michael Saylor calls the company a kind of "bitcoin bank": it sells securities and buys bitcoin with the proceeds.

1. New MSTR shares. Strategy continuously sells shares on the exchange ("at-the-market"). From Oct 26 to Nov 1, 2026 alone, it sold 1.18 million shares for $164 million.
2. Convertible bonds. Six bonds totalling $6.71 billion, with 0 to 2.25% interest and maturities from 2028 to 2032. If the stock rises sharply, they are exchanged for shares instead of being repaid.
3. Preferred stock ("Digital Credit"). STRF, STRC, STRE, STRK and STRD pay 8 to 12% dividends and have no maturity. How they differ is shown in the comparison STRF, STRK, STRD, STRE; the largest of them is explained in STRC (Stretch).

The goal behind it is a single number: more bitcoin per share. Strategy calls the growth of this number "BTC Yield". It only works as long as the stock costs more than the bitcoin behind it, or the preferred stocks are cheaper than the bitcoin they fund.

Rule to remember: Strategy turns capital-market confidence into bitcoin. As long as investors pay a premium for the stock, bitcoin per share grows. If the premium disappears, every new share costs the existing shareholders bitcoin.

2026: the difficult year for Strategy stock

Up to 2025 the machine ran. In 2025, bitcoin per share grew by 25.9% in the first nine months, according to Strategy. In 2026 that reversed.

Source: Strategy quarterly report 10-Q as of Sep 30, 2026.

What happened? By the end of June 2026, bitcoin fell to about $58’600, and the MSTR share fell as low as $82.31 on Jun 26, 2026. The market value was below the value of the bitcoin. At the same time, dividends on the preferred stock grew to about $1.45 billion a year.

Strategy responded in three steps:

1. Dollar reserve. The company sells shares to set aside cash for dividends and interest. On Nov 1, 2026, it held $4.79 billion, enough for a good three years of dividends and interest.
2. Bitcoin sales. In the second and third quarters of 2026, Strategy sold 6’947 BTC. With the proceeds it paid dividends and bought back STRC shares below their stated amount.
3. Buybacks. Strategy buys back STRC below $100 and may buy back up to $1 billion of its own MSTR shares.

The result: since the start of the year, the number of common shares has risen by 35%, bitcoin holdings by 26%. Dividing bitcoin simply by shares, bitcoin per share fell from 0.002155 to 0.002011 BTC, down 6.7%. If you held MSTR instead of bitcoin at the end of 2025, you now hold less bitcoin, not more.

Strategy stock and bitcoin compared

If you bought MSTR in 2020, you're ahead despite the crash. If you got in at the end of 2024, you're far behind. The leverage amplified both directions. Calculated for every purchase date since 2020, with taxes and custody, the comparison is in the article Bitcoin stock or buy bitcoin?.

MSTR prices adjusted for the 2024 split. Source: Yahoo Finance, closing prices.

Strategy bought its bitcoin at an average of $75’451, for a total of $64.08 billion (as of Nov 1, 2026). At the price on Nov 12, 2026, the holdings are about 6% below cost.

According to the Power Law model, bitcoin stood at 0.65× the trend on Nov 12, 2026, that is in the accumulation zone and just above the floor of €60’571 (CHF 55’919). Historically, such phases have been favourable for bitcoin. For Strategy it means the leverage is currently working downward. How the model calculates is in the methodology.

What happens to MSTR when bitcoin falls?

Debt and preferred stock stay the same no matter where bitcoin is. Every move in the bitcoin price therefore hits the common shareholders first, and amplified.

Excluding the dollar reserve, debt and preferred stock at stated amount, as of Nov 12, 2026.

Below about €21’100 per bitcoin, the bitcoin would no longer even cover debt and preferred stock. That is 65% below the floor. The floor is a model value, not a guarantee. Where it lies on a given day you can work out with the floor calculator.

A price drop alone doesn't force Strategy to sell: the company has no loans with bitcoin as collateral. Things get tight when the dollar reserve is used up and, at the same time, nobody wants to buy new shares anymore. Then only bitcoin sales remain to pay dividends.

Worked example: €10’000 or CHF 10’000 in MSTR

With bitcoin directly, you save the premium and carry no company risk. How to invest your own amount over the years you can work out with the savings plan calculator:

The risks of Strategy stock

Many of these risks also affect the preferred stocks, just in a different order. The article The risks of bitcoin preferred stocks goes through them one by one for STRC, STRF and the rest.

Strategy stock, preferred stock or bitcoin directly?

MSTR stock suits you if you deliberately want more volatility than with bitcoin, keep the share small and can stomach an 80% drop. From November 2024 to June 2026, MSTR fell 83%. For your long-term reserve, bitcoin in your own custody is simpler: no management, no debt, no premium. How to set that up is shown in the guide Storing bitcoin safely. If you want to get through a crash in the stock not just on paper but also emotionally, you'll find help in the article HODL psychology.