Saylor's Stretch Hits a Snag: STRC Sags Below Par as Bitcoin Buy Spree Tests Investor Nerves 📉

Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) plunged to a record low of $82.53 on Tuesday, trading roughly 18% below its $100 par value, the steepest discount since the product launched in July 2025. The preferred equity, used by Michael Saylor's Bitcoin-buying firm to fund its BTC accumulation strategy, has been depegged from par since mid-May and continued its slide even as Strategy reaffirmed commitments to STRC holders. STRC, which pays an 11.5% variable dividend adjusted monthly to keep the price near $100, most recently showed an effective yield of about 12.5% after the price decline.

The decline has direct implications for Strategy's funding machinery. When STRC trades above par, the company issues new shares through its at-the-market program and uses the proceeds to buy Bitcoin; with the stock now below par, that issuance has been paused, removing one of the channels Strategy relies on to keep stacking sats. Strategy held 846,842 Bitcoin, roughly 4% of the supply that will ever exist, and recently disclosed a dedicated USD Reserve of $1.1 billion, built up over two consecutive weeks to cover preferred dividends and debt obligations.

Analysts pointed to a mix of factors behind the slide. Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, said traders are reacting to Strategy's continued Bitcoin acquisitions, telling Cointelegraph, "The market would rather see [Strategy] not acquiring more BTC and rather keep the cash for dividend payments. It appears traders are seeing the latest BTC acquisition as an unsustainable path for STRC." Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, attributed part of the pressure to "broader risk-off sentiment in crypto markets," adding that concerns over "Strategy's expanding capital structure and ATM issuance" were weighing on the stock. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, said STRC's weakness "appears to be driven less by Bitcoin itself and more by uncertainty around how Strategy intends to fund and manage its growing fixed obligations," and noted that "a Bitcoin rebound improves the value of the assets supporting Strategy, but it does not automatically increase the cash available."

The slide coincides with operational changes. On June 1, Strategy disclosed it had sold 32 Bitcoin for about $2.5 million in late May to fund STRC distributions, the first BTC sale since the firm began accumulating in 2022, a disclosure that rattled a market accustomed to Saylor's pledge never to sell. The same week, Strategy purchased 1,587 BTC for around $100 million, following a 1,550 BTC purchase the prior week also valued at roughly $100 million, all funded through separate sales of common stock. QCP analysts warned that Strategy's funding overhang could cap BTC's rally in the near term, while Arca CIO Jeff Dorman publicly urged Saylor to either "sell an enormous amount of BTC and MSTR to help bring $STRC back up near par, and at least buy yourself some time, or continue to watch every part of your cap structure melt because of the uncertainty you've created."

Competition is also factoring into the price action. Strive's perpetual variable-rate preferred shares (SATA), a comparable product from fellow Bitcoin treasury firm Strive, traded around $100 with an effective yield of approximately 13%, roughly in line with STRC's current yield. Benchmark-StoneX Managing Director Mark Palmer described the decline as mechanical rather than structural, stating, "That is the structure doing exactly what it was built to do," and projecting that Strategy could hike the dividend at the start of July to "support the price back toward par." Strategy's common stock MSTR fell about 5% on the day to $116.52, with Bitcoin trading in the $64,000 to $65,000 range this week as STRC continues to test the resilience of its par-tracking design.