Strategy’s STRC falls to $91 as investors flinch at latest BTC buying

Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock STRC fell near record lows on Tuesday as investors seemingly balked at the company’s latest Bitcoin acquisitions.

Michael Saylor’s variable-rate perpetual “Stretch” Bitcoin yield product declined by 3.58% to $91.79 on Tuesday, 8.2% below its target value of $100. Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, said the dip is linked to Strategy’s recent Bitcoin buying. 

“The market would rather see [Strategy] not acquiring more BTC and rather keep the cash for dividend payments,” Thielen told Cointelegraph. “It appears traders are seeing the latest BTC acquisition as an unsustainable path for STRC.” 

Stretch is designed to return a dividend of 11.5%, trading at a par value of $100, but the current effective yield, now that the shares have dipped, is 12.5%. This means the firm may need the cash to support the yield rather than spending it to buy more BTC. 

On Monday, Strategy said it acquired 1,587 Bitcoin for around $100 million last week. The week before, it purchased 1,550 BTC, also for about $100 million. The combined purchases brought its holdings to 846,842 Bitcoin.

Risk-off sentiment and pressure from competitors 

Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, told Cointelegraph that “broader risk-off sentiment in crypto markets has weighed on investor appetite.”

“While the variable dividend delivers an effective yield above 12% to anchor the perpetual preferred near its $100 par value, persistent selling pressure and concerns over Strategy’s expanding capital structure and ATM issuance appear to be testing that resilience in the near term,” he added. 

Related: Strategy’s Saylor signals BTC buy as preferred dividend pay date vote looms

The company’s stock (MSTR) has also taken a hit this week, dropping 6.35% on Tuesday to end the day at $122.81, down 67% over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, Stretch is also facing stiff competition from the Strive perpetual variable-rate preferred shares (SATA), which are trading at $100 and offering an effective yield of about 13%. 

BTC variable-rate perps comparison. Source: BitcoinQuant

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