Shares of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) experienced a significant increase of around 9% on Friday, reaching the $180 mark, as Bitcoin made a notable recovery to hover close to $78,000. This uptick comes shortly after Executive Chairman Michael Saylor delivered a captivating keynote address at the Bitcoin 2026 conference held in Las Vegas. Prior to this surge, MSTR had closed near $165 per share, marking a distinct turnaround in its performance.
The rise in MSTR’s shares aligns closely with Bitcoin’s own upward movement, as BTC reached approximately $78,961 by Friday afternoon, according to data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro. For investors in MSTR, this rally provides a much-needed reprieve, especially considering that the stock remains over 70% down from its peak of more than $457 recorded in November 2024. The recent price action follows a broader recovery in Bitcoin, which had seen a decline to the mid-$60,000s earlier this year but has since begun to climb back.
Bitcoin passed the $78,000 threshold last week, driven largely by short liquidations and an improved macroeconomic sentiment stemming from reports indicating progress in U.S.-Iran diplomatic discussions. As market sentiment remains optimistic, predictions regarding Bitcoin’s price have solidified, with Polymarket contracts on May 1 reflecting complete confidence that BTC would settle within the $78,000–$80,000 range.
As a leveraged instrument closely linked to Bitcoin, MSTR’s performance tends to mirror BTC’s fluctuations. Currently, Strategy maintains a substantial holding of approximately 818,334 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, which constitutes about 3.9% of the total Bitcoin supply, acquired at an average cost of roughly $66,385 per coin.
Saylor’s keynote address has sparked renewed enthusiasm among investors, focusing on Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed preferred stock, STRC, rather than traditional Bitcoin price targets. He posited that the global credit market, valued at $300 trillion, represents a vastly larger opportunity compared to Bitcoin’s approximately $2 trillion market size. During his presentation, Saylor emphasized that Strategy has pioneered the first product designed to bridge these two markets.
STRC, which offers an attractive variable dividend of 11.5% paid monthly and trades on Nasdaq, has quickly gained traction, accumulating a notional value of about $8.5 billion within less than nine months—surpassing Saylor’s claims regarding the overall universe of monthly-paying preferred securities.
Notably, BlackRock’s iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has taken a position of around $210 million in STRC. According to Saylor, STRC has financed the acquisition of approximately 77,000 BTC in 2026 alone, which is said to be nearly ten times the inflow from all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs combined during the same timeframe.
