Despite $635 Million in Buybacks, Strategy’s STRC Maintains Value Below $100

Strategy has allocated $635.2 million for the repurchase of its STRC perpetual preferred stock, as the shares continue to trade below the $100 par value, despite a recovery from a low of around $71.

In its latest filing, Strategy stated that it repurchased an additional $151.8 million of STRC in the week ending August 30, paying an average of $97.48 per share as part of a program intended to support the preferred stock.

This latest acquisition encompassed 1.56 million STRC shares and coincided with the company’s return to Bitcoin buying after a pause of approximately two months. Strategy purchased 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million at an average price of $80,318 per coin, bringing its total holdings to 845,050 BTC.

On Tuesday, STRC, referred to as Stretch, was trading at $97.34, still under the $100 threshold that Strategy is striving to restore through increased dividends, cash reserves, and share repurchases.

Strategy’s STRC buybacks total $635.2 million

In late June, Strategy authorized a $1 billion buyback for preferred stock as part of its Digital Credit Capital Framework, reserving an additional $1 billion for common stock repurchases, while also boosting STRC’s annual dividend rate to 12%. As reported earlier by crypto.news, the new capital framework included a provision for selling up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin if necessary.

Since then, the company has incrementally utilized the preferred stock buyback authorization as STRC rebounded from its lows in June.

The volume of Strategy’s weekly purchases has risen as STRC’s price has improved. In the week ending July 26, the company repurchased $25 million of STRC while the preferred shares remained significantly below par. At that point, Strategy had increased its cash reserves to $3.75 billion, maintaining its Bitcoin holdings at 843,775 BTC.

Subsequently, Strategy sold 1,638 BTC for $104.7 million between July 27 and August 2, channeling part of its available funds into preferred stock dividends and repurchases. This sale of Bitcoin helped the company to bolster its cash position while continuing its support for STRC.

By the latest reporting period, Strategy was prepared to pay an average of $97.48 for STRC, nearly $3 shy of its outlined $100 par value.

The company funded its recent transactions by selling 4.53 million MSTR shares through its at-the-market program, generating net proceeds of $602.8 million. Of this total, $369.7 million went towards the Bitcoin purchase, $151.8 million for STRC repurchases, $50.7 million for STRC dividends, and $30 million was added to Strategy’s cash reserves.

As of August 30, Strategy reported $1.61 billion in cash with an additional $5.1 billion held in its USD Reserve.

STRC still short of its $100 par value

While STRC has shown considerable recovery since dipping below $75 in late June, Strategy has not yet succeeded in pushing its preferred stock back to $100 on a consistent basis.

CEO Phong Le mentioned in July that Strategy intends to resume issuing STRC once the stock returns to par, directly connecting the recovery to the company’s capability of leveraging the preferred stock for future Bitcoin acquisitions.

“We’ll continue to build that. And yeah, when Stretch gets back to par, we’ll issue more. We’ll buy more Bitcoin,” Le stated at the time, as previously reported by crypto.news.

At the time of those remarks on July 16, STRC was trading around $87. Strategy had been consistently enhancing its dollar reserves following a significant decline in preferred stock during June.

In an effort to make STRC more appealing to income-focused investors, the company had already adjusted its dividend structure. Shareholders approved bi-monthly dividend payments in June, setting distributions to occur on the 15th and the last day of each month.

Strategy later increased the annualized dividend rate to 12% as part of its capital framework.

Despite trading below par, institutional demand has remained robust. By late July, the preferred stock had become the top holding in three major U.S. preferred stock exchange-traded funds, collectively containing $756 million of STRC. There was a 105% spike in institutional holdings while retail ownership declined from 78% to 71%.

Strive’s SATA has remained closer to par

Strive’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, SATA, has given investors another option for Bitcoin treasury-linked income, offering a higher annualized dividend rate.

For September, Strive has kept SATA’s dividend rate at 13%, unlike STRC’s 12%. SATA pays cash dividends every business day, while STRC distributes dividends bi-monthly.

Strive initiated daily SATA distributions on June 16 after moving away from monthly payments. The change made SATA the first U.S.-listed security to offer cash dividend payments every business day.

In September, Strive announced daily payments of $0.0516 per share over 21 business days, totaling $1.0836 for the entire month, reflecting a 13% annualized rate.

SATA has remained near its $100 par value for over a week, enabling Strive to continue selling shares through its at-the-market program and directing the proceeds towards Bitcoin purchases.

This funding approach has facilitated Strive’s Bitcoin accumulation throughout 2026. In June, the company acquired 759 BTC for around $50 million, with SATA providing a large portion of the funds for the purchase.

Recently, Strive acquired another 1,800 BTC in the past week using proceeds supported by SATA issuance while the preferred stock remained close to par.

Strategy has resumed Bitcoin acquisitions

Strategy’s recent purchase of 4,603 BTC marked the end of nearly a 10-week break from net Bitcoin purchases and increased its holdings to 845,050 BTC, valued at approximately $65.9 billion based on current prices.

During the prior two months, the company mainly directed funds towards cash reserves, obligations related to preferred stock, and STRC repurchases. With this latest transaction, Bitcoin purchases have returned as the primary utilization of funds raised from its weekly MSTR issuance, as nearly $370 million of the $602.8 million sourced from common stock sales was allocated for BTC.

As of August 30, Strategy still had around $19.09 billion of MSTR shares available for issuance under its at-the-market program.

The performance discrepancy between the two companies is evident in their common stock. Strive’s ASST has surged roughly 60% since the beginning of 2026, whereas Strategy’s MSTR has dropped about 15% in the same timeframe.

In August, Strive reported acquiring 6,236 BTC in the second quarter and a total of 12,237 BTC in the first half of 2026. An additional 303 BTC were acquired from July 1 to August 7, and the company had issued 44 consecutive daily SATA dividends by August 7.

As of August 7, Strive reported no short or long-term debt and had $154.9 million in cash and cash equivalents.