--- title: "Strategy bought no bitcoin last week, spent $205 million on its preferred, leaving $242.4 million for coins" description: "STRC, the preferred stock meant to take over funding Strategy's bitcoin buying, has not been issued since it slipped below its $100 stated amount in May, and the cash pool behind the company's coin purchases is down to $242.4 million. The restart test is par; the other test is MSCI's November 11 index-removal list." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Economy" published: 2026-10-26T17:24:56.469Z modified: 2026-10-26T17:24:56.469Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/strategy-bought-no-bitcoin-last-week-spent-205-million-on-its-preferred-leaving-242-4-million-for-coins language: en keywords: "Bitcoin, Crypto, Index Funds, ETFs, Treasury Companies" --- # Strategy bought no bitcoin last week, spent $205 million on its preferred, leaving $242.4 million for coins > STRC, the preferred stock meant to take over funding Strategy's bitcoin buying, has not been issued since it slipped below its $100 stated amount in May, and the cash pool behind the company's coin purchases is down to $242.4 million. The restart test is par; the other test is MSCI's November 11 index-removal list. ## The first blank week since mid-September [Strategy](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microstrategy), the Nasdaq company holding 848,517 bitcoin, [filed its weekly 8-K](https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-skips-btc-buy-205-million-strc-buyback), the SEC form that carries its purchase disclosures, before Monday's open with an empty purchase column: no coins bought or sold from October 19 to 25, and no shares sold through its at-the-market program, its channel for selling new stock into the market [1][3]. It was the first blank week since mid-September [1]. The one line that moved was $204.9 million spent buying back 2.07 million shares of STRC, its variable-rate preferred stock, paid from USD Cash, the pool that normally buys coins [1][3]. That pool fell to $242.4 million from $447.3 million in a week [1][3], and MSTR slipped 2.2% in premarket trade [3]. ## Both ends of the machine stopped at once For years Strategy has sold stock and bonds and bought coins with the proceeds [4]. Last week neither end ran. STRC is designed to trade near its $100 stated amount, and each new share carries $100 of dividend-bearing claim; selling one below that raises less cash than the obligation it creates, so with STRC under par since late May, none have been issued [1][4]. In Monday's premarket it sat at $99.35 [3]. The market's biggest corporate bitcoin buyer is now its own best customer, with $664 million of preferred buybacks since October 1 against $72.3 million of bitcoin [3]. The authorization is $3 billion, with $956.8 million left [1][5]. Chief executive [Phong Le](https://theinference.org/markets/people/phong-le) said in July the buying would taper as STRC neared par; the latest repurchases averaged $99.60 [5]. ## The common shareholder pays Who pays is the common shareholder: the pool their model says buys coins is retiring preferred claims instead, while bitcoin sits near $79,200, above the $75,446 average cost but below the $82,900 of the last purchase [2]. *Chart: **The cash pool Strategy uses to buy bitcoin has fallen 85% since August** Column chart of Strategy's USD Cash pool: $1,610M on Aug 30, $833.4M on Oct 4, $447.3M on Oct 18 and $242.4M on Oct 25, 2026, a fall of about 85 percent.* *USD Cash, the discretionary pool Strategy can spend on bitcoin or preferred-stock buybacks, at dated snapshots from weekly 8-K filings. The $4.83B USD Reserve earmarked for preferred dividends and debt interest is excluded. [1][3][5][10]* ## Less paper, more bitcoin per share The buyback retires $100 of stated value for less than that, which lifts net bitcoin per common share [4]. Strategy has already pre-announced a $20.91 billion third-quarter gain on its coins, an unaudited management estimate from [its October 5 filing](https://financefeeds.com/strategy-estimates-a-20-91-billion-q3-bitcoin-gain-and-adds-334-btc-to-reach-848000/) [10]. ## The corporate bid did not vanish Strive, the treasury firm run by its chief executive, Matt Cole, [bought 6,182 coins for $511 million](https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-26-strive-closes-in-second-largest-corporate-bitcoin-treasury-511-million-purchase-431729) in the same week Strategy sat out, and it holds 505,000 STRC shares itself [9]. ## One price decides the restart The outside bid is thinning too: [spot bitcoin ETFs shed $635.6 million on Thursday](https://decrypt.co/381700/bitcoin-etfs-bleed-october-turns-red-again), the most since June [2][7]. Shareholders vote October 28 on switching STRC dividends to daily payments, [earnings land October 29 alongside Coinbase's](https://theinference.org/article/coinbase-reports-q3-on-october-29-with-its-desk-pricing-an-80-december-hike-and-liquidity-down-13-billion), and $10.9 billion of options expire Friday with max pain, the price where the most options expire worthless, at $78,000 [2][8]. *Chart: **Bitcoin sits between Strategy's average cost and its last purchase** Bars comparing three bitcoin price levels: the $82,900 of Strategy's last purchase, the $79,200 spot price and the $75,446 average cost of its coins, with a line marking the $78,000 options max pain.* *Dollars per bitcoin: the price of Strategy's last weekly purchase and the average cost of its 848,517 coins, against the October 26 spot price. The marked line is the $78,000 max pain for Friday's $10.9 billion options expiry. [2][3]* ## November 11 brings the second test Then November 11, when [MSCI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/msci), the index provider, names the companies removed under [its new rule barring non-operating companies](https://www.techi.com/msci-rule-strategy-index-removal-nov-30/); removal would force funds that track its indexes to sell, and the rule knocked 9.6% off the stock in a day [5][6]. The size is contested: Strategy counts MSCI-linked holdings near 13 million shares, about $1.8 billion and under a day of trading, against JPMorgan's $2.8 billion estimate [5][6]. VanEck's Matthew Sigel calls STRC's return to par the test of a restart [5]; the next Monday 8-K shows which way it turned. ## Takeaway Strategy's cash for coins is down to $242.4 million, about a week's worth of preferred-share buybacks, and no new STRC has been issued since it slipped below $100 in May. Bitcoin buying restarts only when STRC trades back to par; MSCI's November 11 removal list is the other clock. ## Sources 1. [Yahoo Finance, "Strategy Sinks 2% as It Pauses Bitcoin Buying Amid 'Risk Off' Crypto Slide", 26 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/strategy-sinks-2-pauses-bitcoin-151641545.html) 2. [Yahoo Finance (Coinspeaker), "Bitcoin Holds $79,200 Before the Fed, Coinbase Earnings and a $10.9B Expiry: Which Way Next?", 26 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/bitcoin-holds-79-200-fed-133225031.html) 3. [Cointelegraph, "Strategy skips Bitcoin purchases, spends $205M on STRC buybacks", 26 October 2026](https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-skips-btc-buy-205-million-strc-buyback) 4. [Bitcoin Magazine, "Strategy (MSTR) Pauses Bitcoin Buying and Spends $205 Million on Preferred Stock", 26 October 2026](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/strategy-mstr-pauses-bitcoin-buying-205) 5. [CryptoSlate, "Strategy's discretionary cash falls 72% as buyback authorization rises to $3 billion", 19 October 2026](https://cryptoslate.com/strategys-discretionary-cash-falls-72-as-buyback-authorization-rises-to-3-billion/) 6. [TECHi, "MSCI's new rule could drop Strategy from its indexes on Nov. 30", 17 October 2026](https://www.techi.com/msci-rule-strategy-index-removal-nov-30/) 7. [Decrypt, "Bitcoin ETFs Bleed $636 Million as October Turns Red Again", 23 October 2026](https://decrypt.co/381700/bitcoin-etfs-bleed-october-turns-red-again) 8. [24/7 Wall St., "Strategy Booked an $8.3 Billion Bitcoin Loss Last Quarter. Could Q3 Show a Gain?", 25 October 2026](https://247wallst.com/investing/cryptocurrency/2026/10/25/strategy-booked-an-8-3-billion-bitcoin-loss-last-quarter-could-q3-show-a-gain/) 9. [The Block, "Strive closes in on second-largest corporate bitcoin treasury with $511 million purchase", 26 October 2026](https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-26-strive-closes-in-second-largest-corporate-bitcoin-treasury-511-million-purchase-431729) 10. [FinanceFeeds, "Strategy Estimates a $20.91 Billion Q3 Bitcoin Gain and Adds 334 BTC to Reach 848,000", 6 October 2026](https://financefeeds.com/strategy-estimates-a-20-91-billion-q3-bitcoin-gain-and-adds-334-btc-to-reach-848000/) --- Strategy bought no bitcoin last week, spent $205 million on its preferred, leaving $242.4 million for coins — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/strategy-bought-no-bitcoin-last-week-spent-205-million-on-its-preferred-leaving-242-4-million-for-coins