Strategy (MicroStrategy) stock: what is actually going on

Strategy Inc, the company formerly called MicroStrategy, is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin in the world and the original template for the "bitcoin treasury company." Its Class A shares, still trading under the ticker MSTR, jumped 16.4% on Friday as bitcoin climbed back to $80,000. They are also down about 58% from their high of the past year. This page is our running explanation of what the company actually is, what the last reported quarter showed, and what is moving the stock now. Every figure comes from Strategy's own SEC filings or from market data we pulled on September 19, 2026, with the date attached.

Where the money comes from

There are two businesses here, and they are wildly different in size.

The first is an enterprise analytics software business, the original MicroStrategy. In the second quarter of 2026, the last one reported, it produced $122.4 million of total revenue, up 6.9% from $114.5 million a year earlier. Inside that:

• Subscription services: $62.9 million, up from $40.8 million a year earlier. This is the cloud business and the only line growing quickly.
• Product support: $40.2 million, down from $52.1 million. The legacy on-premises maintenance base is shrinking.
• Other services: $15.6 million, and product licenses: $3.7 million, down from $7.2 million.

Gross profit was $81.6 million, a 66.6% gross margin. Operating costs outside of bitcoin accounting were about $97.1 million in the quarter, so the software business on its own does not cover its overhead.

The second business is the balance sheet, and it dwarfs the first. As of September 13, 2026, Strategy held approximately 845,050 bitcoin, bought for an aggregate $63.73 billion, an average of about $75,412 each including fees, according to its Form 8-K filed September 14. At the $81,296 bitcoin price on Coinbase on Saturday evening, that stack is worth about $68.7 billion.

It was funded by issuing securities. Strategy raised about $17.06 billion through its at-the-market programs in 2026 through July 26, and it has four listed preferred stocks (STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD) plus a euro-listed instrument, which it calls "Digital Credit." Those preferreds carry dividend rates of 8% to 12%. At June 30 the preferred had a liquidation preference of $15.46 billion, and convertible notes outstanding were $6.67 billion, down from $8.21 billion after a May repurchase at an 8% discount to par.

The share price and the size of the company

MSTR closed at $153.92 on Friday, September 18, 2026, up 16.39% from Thursday's $132.25, on volume of about 54.7 million shares against an average of about 20.6 million, according to Nasdaq data retrieved September 19. Market value is about $59.1 billion.

The 52-week range is $81.81 to $365.21. There is no dividend on the common stock and Nasdaq lists no price to earnings ratio, because the trailing result is a large loss. The stock is a member of the Nasdaq-100.

The week shows the volatility: $136.94 on Monday, $129.60 Tuesday, $126.18 Wednesday, $132.25 Thursday, then $153.92 Friday. Bitcoin rose about 5.9% on Friday, from $76,349 to $80,875 on Coinbase. MSTR rose nearly three times as much.

One comparison is worth doing plainly. The bitcoin is worth roughly $68.7 billion at Saturday's price. The common stock is worth about $59.1 billion. Ahead of the common sit $6.67 billion of convertible notes and about $15.5 billion of preferred liquidation preference as of June 30, reduced somewhat since by buybacks. On that arithmetic the market is valuing the common at less than the bitcoin behind it, which is the reverse of the premium the shares traded at for most of the past three years.

The last reported quarter

Strategy reported the second quarter of 2026 on July 30:

• Operating loss: $8.33 billion, against $14.03 billion of operating income a year earlier. Almost all of the swing is an $8.32 billion unrealized loss on digital assets, the mark to market on the bitcoin, which now runs through the income statement under the accounting rule adopted in 2025.
• Net loss: $8.22 billion, or $24.45 a diluted share. For the first half, the net loss was $20.76 billion.
• Preferred dividends: $400.7 million in the quarter, up from $49.1 million a year earlier. That is the running cost of the Digital Credit stack.
• Cash: $1.71 billion, plus $736.1 million of short-term investments, at June 30.
• Software: revenue $122.4 million, gross profit $81.6 million.

Strategy also disclosed that it had sold about $218.4 million of bitcoin in 2026 to help fund preferred dividends, under a board-authorized "BTC Monetization Program."

What is driving the stock right now

1. Bitcoin, first and last. The mark to market on 845,050 coins dwarfs everything in the software business, and the shares move like a leveraged bet on the coin. Bitcoin is around $81,296 on Coinbase, up about 5.9% over seven days. See today's crypto prices.

2. The company has stopped buying. In its filings covering August 31 to September 7 and September 8 to September 13, Strategy said it did not sell any shares under its ATM programs and did not purchase or sell any bitcoin. Holdings have been flat at 845,050 coins since September 7. For a company whose entire equity story was buying more bitcoin per share, a pause is itself the news.

3. Capital is going into buybacks instead. On September 8 the board doubled the digital credit securities repurchase program from $1.0 billion to $2.0 billion. In the week to September 13 Strategy bought back 1,420,467 STRC shares for $139.3 million. Management has said it wants STRC to trade near its $100 stated amount and will buy more at deeper discounts. Chief executive Phong Le called the repurchases "an attractive use of capital that reduces our future preferred dividend requirements at a discount." A $1.0 billion authorization to buy back MSTR common also exists, with no purchases made as of the last update.

4. Liquidity buffers. On August 24 Strategy added "USD Cash" alongside its existing "USD Reserve." As of September 13 those stood at $1.30 billion and $5.10 billion respectively. The reserve is earmarked for preferred dividends and interest; at the July report it represented about 2.1 years of coverage.

The bear case, stated fairly

The preferred dividends are a fixed cost against a volatile asset. Strategy paid $400.7 million of preferred dividends in one quarter, against a software business generating $81.6 million of gross profit in that same quarter. The gap is funded from the USD Reserve, from new issuance, or by selling bitcoin, and the company has already sold $218.4 million of bitcoin this year for that purpose. STRC's dividend rate has been raised to 12% to hold the price near par, which raises the cost further.

The ATM engine only works at a premium. Issuing shares above the value of the bitcoin behind them adds bitcoin per share; issuing below it does the opposite. With the common trading near or under the value of its bitcoin, that route is effectively closed, which is consistent with the recent pause in both ATM sales and bitcoin purchases.

And the accounting now cuts both ways. The same rule that produced $14.05 billion of unrealized gains in one 2025 quarter produced $8.32 billion of unrealized losses in the second quarter of 2026 and $22.77 billion in the first half. Reported earnings are a bitcoin price chart with a software company attached.

Sentiment is part of the story too. Investor Jason Calacanis published a widely shared bitcoin sceptic's note this week comparing the asset to "the CD in the age of Spotify," according to CoinDesk, prompting a public reply from founder Michael Saylor. That argument is not a number, but it is the debate the multiple on this stock rests on.

What we are watching

• The Monday filings. Strategy publishes an ATM, bitcoin and buyback update nearly every Monday. Whether the pause in bitcoin buying ends, and whether it starts repurchasing MSTR common, are the two things to look for.
• The next results. The third quarter ends September 30. Strategy had not announced a report date as of September 19, 2026; it reported the second quarter on July 30.
• STRC's price. The whole preferred strategy depends on that security trading near $100. The buyback size and pace tell you how far it is from there.
• The USD Reserve. At $5.10 billion on September 13, it is the buffer between preferred dividends and forced bitcoin sales.
• The software line. Subscription services at $62.9 million a quarter and growing more than 50% year over year is the only part of the operating business getting bigger.

Sources: Strategy Inc Forms 8-K filed September 14, September 8, August 31 and August 24, 2026; second quarter 2026 earnings release, July 30, 2026; Nasdaq quote, summary and chart data for MSTR retrieved September 19, 2026; Coinbase Exchange BTC-USD market data; CoinDesk. This page is updated as the numbers change. This is market information, not investment advice.