Strategy has now spent 635.2 million USD repurchasing its STRC perpetual preferred stock — including 151.8 million USD in a single week — yet the security continues to trade below its 100 USD par value, hovering around 97 USD despite a dramatic recovery from June lows near 71 USD.
By Sarah Park | September 1, 2026
The company disclosed that it bought back another 151.8 million USD of STRC during the week ended August 30, paying an average of 97.48 USD per share for 1.56 million shares, as part of a repurchase program designed to support the preferred stock, crypto.news reported.
The Hook: A Billion-Dollar Rescue Mission for One Security
STRC, nicknamed “Stretch,” is a special type of stock that pays a fixed dividend — think of it as a hybrid between a bond and a share. Strategy introduced a 1 billion USD authorization for preferred stock repurchases in late June as part of its Digital Credit Capital Framework, which also set aside another 1 billion USD for common stock buybacks and raised STRC’s annual dividend rate to 12%.
The framework even included a separate program allowing Strategy to sell up to 1.25 billion USD of Bitcoin if needed. In other words: the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in the world built an emergency toolkit specifically to defend the price of one preferred stock. That is how important STRC has become to the company’s funding machine.
On-Chain Evidence: Where the Money Came From
The latest filing lays out the plumbing. Strategy funded its recent transactions by selling 4.53 million MSTR shares through its at-the-market program for net proceeds of 602.8 million USD. That money was split four ways:
- 369.7 million USD — purchased 4,603 BTC at an average of 80,318 USD per coin, taking total holdings to 845,050 BTC
- 151.8 million USD — STRC buybacks
- 50.7 million USD — STRC dividend payments
- 30 million USD — added to Strategy’s USD Cash account
As of August 30, Strategy reported 1.61 billion USD in USD Cash with another 5.1 billion USD held in its USD Reserve. The company also sold 1,638 BTC for 104.7 million USD between July 27 and August 2, directing part of its available capital toward preferred stock dividends and repurchases — a rare Bitcoin sale from the most famous accumulator in the market.
The Core Conflict: Why 100 USD Matters So Much
STRC was trading at 97.34 USD on Tuesday — less than 3 USD below par, but below it all the same. That gap is not cosmetic. Chief Executive Phong Le said in July that Strategy planned to resume issuing STRC once the security returned to par, linking the recovery directly to the company’s ability to fund future Bitcoin purchases.
“We’ll continue to build that. And yeah, when Stretch gets back to par, we’ll issue more. We’ll buy more Bitcoin,” Le said at the time, when STRC traded near 87 USD. Until then, Strategy cannot print new preferred shares without diluting existing holders below par — which is why the company keeps spending real dollars propping up the price.
The buybacks have escalated alongside the price: during the week ended July 26, Strategy repurchased just 25 million USD of STRC while the shares remained well below par. The willingness to pay an average 97.48 USD last week shows how close the company believes it is to escaping the discount.
Market Implications: Competition From Strive
Strategy no longer has the Bitcoin-treasury income trade to itself. Strive’s competing product, SATA, offers a 13% annualized dividend with payments every business day — versus STRC’s 12% paid twice a month. For September, Strive declared daily payments of 0.0516 USD per share across 21 business days, equivalent to 1.0836 USD for the full month.
SATA has stayed close to its own 100 USD par value for more than a week, letting Strive keep selling shares through its at-the-market program and directing proceeds toward Bitcoin purchases — including another 1,800 BTC acquired over the past week. Strive’s common stock, ASST, has gained roughly 60% this year, compared with a 15% decline for MSTR.
Institutional money, meanwhile, has been betting on STRC’s recovery. By late July, the preferred stock had become the largest holding in three major US preferred stock exchange-traded funds, which collectively held 756 million USD of STRC. Institutional holdings had increased 105%, while retail ownership fell from 78% to 71%.
The Verdict: What This Means for You
For Bitcoin investors, STRC’s slow climb back to par is worth watching because it is the gate on Strategy’s next phase of accumulation. A sustained return to 100 USD would let the company issue fresh preferred stock and convert income investors’ capital into Bitcoin demand. A renewed slide below — especially toward the June lows — would force Strategy to keep burning cash and possibly selling BTC to defend it.
For income investors, the lesson from STRC’s journey from 71 USD to 97 USD is that “perpetual preferred” does not mean safe. These instruments carry real price risk, and when the issuer is levered to Bitcoin, that risk multiplies. A 12% dividend on a security that can fall 25% is not the free lunch it might appear to be.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
635M spent to hold 97 against a 100 par. thats not support, thats a very expensive floor sweep
bought 1.56M shares at 97.48 avg. anyone who bought the june dip near 71 is up 36% while the company itself pays near par. funny dynamics
funny dynamics indeed. the company buying its own preferred at 97.48 is basically a guaranteed 2.5 percent pickup at redemption, easiest trade it will ever make
635 million on buybacks and its still trading under 100. at some point you just accept the market is pricing in something you dont like
thats exactly it, 100 par acts like a hard ceiling. upside is capped by redemption risk, buybacks just defend the floor
The real story is the recovery from those June lows near 71 up to 97. Buyers came back regardless of the buyback machine.
71 to 97 is a 36% move, buybacks helped for sure but 151.8m in a single week is aggressive pacing imo
1 billion authorization set in june and 635m already spent by end of august. at this pace the whole program is done before year end and STRC still wont touch par