Shares of Strategy ($MSTR) experienced a surge of over 10% on Wednesday morning, briefly exceeding $189 per share, as investors increasingly turned to the bitcoin treasury trade. This rise caps a tumultuous period for the stock, which had seen significant drawdowns earlier this month.
Strategy, holding the largest bitcoin position of any public company, has become a high-beta proxy for bitcoin, meaning that its stock’s gains and losses are often intensified compared to the fluctuations in the bitcoin spot price. With bitcoin nearing the upper bounds of its recent trading range around $97,000, Strategy capitalized on this moment with an impressive upside move that outstripped the broader equity market.
This rally has built on momentum that began late last week, following Strategy’s announcement of a substantial bitcoin purchase, adding over 13,000 BTC to its balance sheet. This acquisition brought the company’s total bitcoin holdings to approximately 687,000, reinforcing its established strategy of accumulating BTC through a combination of operating cash flow, equity issuance, and capital markets activity.
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has depicted this approach as a long-term investment in bitcoin, viewed as a superior store of value and treasury reserve asset. Market observers note that the size and consistency of Strategy’s purchases have helped stabilize bullish sentiment around the stock, which had faced downward pressure due to bitcoin’s recent decline and apprehensions about potential dilution.
Despite ongoing concerns regarding leverage risk and accounting volatility, proponents argue that Strategy’s balance sheet presents one of the most direct institutional gateways to bitcoin exposure in public markets. Sentiment has also improved due to signs of insider confidence, notably a recent open-market purchase by a company director, marking a departure from the trend of scheduled sales that characterized previous insider activity.
Several structural factors further contributed to the stock’s rebound. Earlier this month, index provider MSCI chose not to exclude bitcoin-focused treasury companies from certain benchmarks, alleviating fears of forced selling by passive funds. This decision reduced immediate downside risk for Strategy, which has become increasingly sensitive to index inflows as its market capitalization grew amid bitcoin’s surges in 2024 and 2025.
However, Strategy’s business model remains tightly linked to bitcoin’s volatility. The company previously reported significant unrealized losses due to accounting regulations requiring it to adjust the value of its bitcoin holdings downward during price declines. Such losses are only reversed when bitcoin prices recover, leading to significant earnings fluctuations that traditional equity investors often find challenging to assess.
The spike above $189 on Wednesday underscores the reflexive nature of this investment. As bitcoin prices rise, Strategy’s stock is also buoyed, attracting investors eager for leveraged exposure to the cryptocurrency market.
