Strategy Inc is a US company that keeps most of its money in Bitcoin, a digital currency that no bank or government issues. It held 849,327 Bitcoin on 1 November 2026. It paid $64.08 billion for them, or $75,451 each on average.
Strategy also sells data-analysis software. Its ordinary shares, the standard shares anyone can buy, trade on the Nasdaq, a US stock exchange, under the ticker MSTR, its short trading code.
What does Strategy do? Strategy is a Bitcoin treasury company: a business that keeps most of its reserves in Bitcoin and raises new money from investors to buy more. It also runs a software business that sells data-analysis tools to other companies.
Strategy held 849,327 Bitcoin on 1 November 2026. It paid for them by selling shares, preferred stock (shares that pay a fixed dividend), and convertible notes (loans that can turn into shares).
Strategy's preferred stock carries $14.11 billion that holders are owed if it closes down. Its convertible notes total $6.71 billion. Holders of both are paid before ordinary shareholders. Its Bitcoin was valued at $70.82 billion on 30 September 2026.
The share price can sit above or below the value of the Bitcoin behind each share. The shares also come with debts, a software business, and the chance that Strategy sells more shares.
What does Strategy sell?
Strategy runs two businesses. The first is software: an analytics platform that turns a company's data into reports and charts.
Software revenue was $477.2 million in 2025, up 3.0% from $463.5 million in 2024.
The second is the Bitcoin business, which earns no sales revenue. About 99% of Strategy's assets are in it.
What is a Bitcoin treasury company?
A company's treasury is the cash and other reserves it keeps for the future. Strategy sells shares and other securities to investors, then uses part of the money to buy Bitcoin.
A custodian is a firm that holds assets for their owner and charges a fee for it.
The largest of Strategy's three US custodians held 42% of the Bitcoin on 25 October 2026. It is part of Coinbase, which our guide to what Coinbase does covers.
How much Bitcoin does Strategy hold?
Strategy's holdings rose from 447,470 Bitcoin on 31 December 2024 to 849,327 on 1 November 2026, an increase of 89.8%. The total price paid, including fees, rose from $27.97 billion to $64.08 billion.
Source: Strategy Inc Form 10-Q for the quarter to 30 September 2026 and Form 8-K of 2 November 2026 (SEC)
In the third quarter of 2026, Strategy bought 7,218 Bitcoin and sold 5,552. The sale proceeds paid dividends and bought back some preferred stock.
Is the Bitcoin worth more than Strategy paid?
Source: Strategy Inc Form 10-Q for the quarter to 30 September 2026 (SEC)
Chart 2 sets the average cost of each Bitcoin against the market price on the last day of each quarter. Strategy values its Bitcoin at that price. The axis runs by calendar date. The filing gives no price for 31 March 2025, so the price line is dotted across that quarter.
At 30 September 2026, the price was $83,552, above the $75,437 average cost. The Bitcoin was valued at $70.82 billion, 10.8% above the $63.95 billion paid.
Three months earlier, on 30 June 2026, the price was $58,714. The Bitcoin was then valued at $49.67 billion, 22.3% below the $63.94 billion paid.
How does Strategy pay for its Bitcoin?
Strategy uses three tools. The first is the at-the-market offering, in which a company sells new shares a little at a time, through banks, at the current price.
The second is the convertible note, a loan that pays little or no interest but lets the lender swap it for shares at a fixed price. Six series were outstanding at 30 September 2026, with $6.71 billion borrowed.
The third is preferred stock. It pays a fixed dividend and ranks ahead of ordinary shares, so its holders are paid first if the company closes down. The liquidation preference is the amount owed to them then. Five series totalled $14.11 billion at 30 September 2026.
The table lists the five preferred stocks, each with its dividend rate and the amount holders are owed. STRC is the largest.
Preferred stock | Dividend rate a year | Liquidation preference | Converts to ordinary shares? |
|---|---|---|---|
STRF | 10% | $1.33 billion | No |
STRC | 12% (variable) | $9.10 billion | No |
STRE | 10% | $0.88 billion | No |
STRK | 8% | $1.40 billion | Yes |
STRD | 10% | $1.40 billion | No |
Total | $14.11 billion |
Strategy's five preferred stocks at 30 September 2026. The dividend rate is the share of the $100 stated amount (€100 for STRE) paid each year. The liquidation preference is the amount holders are owed per series if Strategy is wound up, ahead of ordinary shareholders. STRE trades in Luxembourg and is priced in euros. Source: Strategy Inc Form 10-Q for the quarter to 30 September 2026 (SEC)
Source: Strategy Inc Form 10-Q for the quarter to 30 September 2026 (SEC)
Chart 3 splits what share sales raised into ordinary shares and preferred stock. In the nine months to 30 September 2026, they raised $21.16 billion after commissions: $13.64 billion from ordinary shares and $7.52 billion from preferred stock.
Share sales do not all buy Bitcoin. In the third quarter of 2026, ordinary shares raised $5.41 billion. Of that, $588.1 million, or 10.9%, bought Bitcoin. The rest went to a dollar reserve (a pot of cash kept to pay dividends and interest), buybacks of preferred stock, dividends, and interest.
What does Strategy owe?
The preferred stock and the notes carry fixed payments. At 25 October 2026, the expected annual cost of preferred dividends and note interest was about $1.51 billion.
On 25 October 2026, Strategy's two dollar pools held $5.07 billion: a $4.83 billion reserve for dividends and interest, plus $0.24 billion it can use more widely. Strategy puts that at about 40 months of payments.
The preferred stock and the convertible notes together come to $20.82 billion, or 29.4% of the Bitcoin's $70.82 billion value.
What did Strategy report for the quarter to 30 September 2026?
In the three months to 30 September 2026, Strategy made a profit of $19.53 billion. Bitcoin's price rose over the quarter. The rise counts as a gain of $20.91 billion, mostly on Bitcoin that Strategy still holds.
Over the nine months, the company made a net loss of $1.23 billion. Bitcoin's price on 30 September 2026 ($83,552) was below its price on 31 December 2025 ($87,515).
Strategy's quarterly report states $157 of Bitcoin per share at 30 September 2026. It is Strategy's own measure: its 847,666 Bitcoin at that date, priced at $83,552, divided by 451.6 million shares. The share count assumes every convertible note, convertible preferred share, and employee share award turned into ordinary shares.
A price above $157 is a premium to the Bitcoin behind a share. A price below is a discount.
Four things move the share price away from $157.
First, the $20.82 billion of preferred stock and notes must be paid before ordinary shareholders. Second, the shares also own the software business. Third, Strategy may sell more shares, which changes the Bitcoin behind each share. Fourth, the price is whatever buyers pay on the day.
Strategy's filings say its share price can deviate significantly from the fair market value of its Bitcoin. We give no view on whether any gap is right.
What are the risks?
Bitcoin's price is the first. In the third quarter of 2026, it ranged from $57,718 to $87,397.
Dividend and interest payments are the second risk, because they are set in advance. If Bitcoin falls, the value of Strategy's holdings falls, but the payments to holders of preferred stock and notes stay the same.
Strategy says it is not registered as an investment company, so holders lack the protections that come with a fund.
Where does Strategy fit in our work?
Our Macro & Megacaps Systematic Portfolio may hold a crypto sleeve, a small group of up to five crypto-linked names held alongside its stocks. MSTR is one of its candidates. Multi-model Signals, our signal service for individual names, covers Bitcoin.
Our guide to the Bitcoin ETF covers funds that hold Bitcoin directly. See also Bitcoin vs Ethereum vs Solana and our guide to crypto stocks.
We wrote this guide on 8 November 2026 from Strategy's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latest quarterly report (Form 10-Q) covers the three months to 30 September 2026 and has not been checked by outside auditors.
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Common questions about Strategy
Is Strategy a Bitcoin company or a software company?
It is both. Strategy's filings describe it as a Bitcoin treasury company with an enterprise analytics software business. About 99% of its assets are in the Bitcoin business at 30 September 2026. All of its $372.1 million of revenue in the nine months to that date came from software.
Who looks after Strategy's Bitcoin?
Three US firms that specialise in safekeeping hold nearly all of it. On 25 October 2026, Coinbase Custody Trust Company held 42%, Anchorage Digital Bank held 38%, and Fidelity Digital Assets held 20%. Strategy's quarterly report gives the split. Strategy owns the Bitcoin. The firms only hold it for Strategy.
Does Strategy ever sell its Bitcoin?
Yes, in small amounts. In the third quarter of 2026, Strategy sold 5,552 Bitcoin and bought 7,218. It sold 1,395 in the second quarter. The quarterly report says the sale proceeds paid preferred dividends and bought back some STRC preferred stock.
What is STRC?
STRC is one of Strategy's five preferred stocks. It pays a dividend that Strategy resets each month. The rate was 12.00% a year for September 2026, paid twice a month. It owed holders $9.10 billion if the company closed down at 30 September 2026, the most of any of the five.
DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for educational purposes only. Any information or analysis in this note does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice, nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
