Strategy now holds a record 848,000 BTC. The company spent far more on STRC preferred stock buybacks than on Bitcoin. Strategy estimates a $20.91 billion gain on digital assets for the third
Strategy bought 334 BTC for $28.7 million between October 1 and October 4, lifting its holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC, according to a filing the company submitted to the SEC on Monday. The same document shows that it spent $176.3 million repurchasing its own STRC preferred shares between September 28 and October 4, roughly 6.1 times the amount it put into Bitcoin. It is the fifth consecutive week in which Strategy has spent more on its preferred stock than on Bitcoin.
Where the money went, September 28 – October 4
STRC preferred stock buybacks
$176.3 millionBitcoin purchases
$28.7 millionThe latest purchase came at an average of $85,838.80 per coin. Strategy paid for it with $15.7 million raised by selling 92,894 MSTR common shares and $13.0 million from its cash balance. It bought no Bitcoin between September 28 and 30.
Bitcoin held 848,000 BTC Total cost $63.97B Average cost per BTC $75,440.70 Share of 21M supply ~4.04%The week before, Strategy had bought 1,665 BTC for $142.7 million, so the pace of accumulation dropped by about 80% from one filing to the next. The record follows a summer in which Strategy sold 3,588 BTC for approximately $216 million in early July to pay preferred dividends and refill its dollar reserve, then another 1,690 BTC in August to fund STRC buybacks.
Strategy reports a $21 billion gain on digital assets in Q3 2026. Last week, we acquired 334 $BTC and repurchased $176M of $STRC. As of 10/4/26, we hold 848,000 BTC and $5.7B of USD Assets. $MSTRhttps://t.co/jvwiJahdMm
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 5, 2026
STRC is a perpetual preferred stock with a $100 stated amount and a 12% annualized dividend. Strategy wants it to trade close to $100, and it has said it will buy the shares when they fall below that level and slow down as the price recovers.
Each share retired removes $12 a year in dividend obligations, and buying below $100 means the company cancels that obligation for less than the capital it originally represented. CEO Phong Le said in July that the repurchases reduce future preferred dividend requirements at a discount.
SEPTEMBER 28-30 $102.6M 1,033,168 shares OCTOBER 1-4 $73.7M 740,634 shares TOTAL $176.3M 1,773,802 sharesThose figures imply an average price of about $99.39 per share. In July, Strategy was paying approximately $86.52, a 13% discount to the stated amount. The discount has almost closed, which suggests the buybacks are doing what management intended, and that the savings on each additional share are now small. The latest repurchases extend a run of five consecutive weeks in which Strategy spent between $139 million and $176 million on STRC, about $818 million in total since the end of August.
Strategy financed the repurchases with $154.1 million of cash and $22.2 million of interest earned on its cash and short-term investments. It did not touch the $4.88 billion USD Reserve, which company policy restricts to preferred dividends and debt interest. General-purpose cash stood at $833.4 million on October 4.
The filing also includes preliminary third-quarter figures. Strategy estimates a $20.91 billion gain on digital assets and a carrying value of about $70.82 billion for its Bitcoin as of September 30, along with roughly $1.88 billion of deferred tax expense tied to that gain. The tax charge would have been about $6 billion, but Strategy released a valuation allowance it had booked in June, when its Bitcoin was worth less than it had paid, and that produced a $4.12 billion offsetting benefit.
Strategy did not earn that money from operations. Fair-value accounting requires it to mark its Bitcoin to market every quarter, so the result follows the coin’s price. In the first quarter the same rule produced a $14.46 billion unrealized loss and a $12.54 billion net loss.
Strategy has $547.2 million left under its $2 billion repurchase program for preferred securities, enough for about three more weeks at the recent pace. It also retains approximately $18.83 billion of capacity to sell MSTR shares and $17.51 billion to sell STRC, although its policy is not to issue STRC below $100.
Shareholders vote on October 28 on a proposal to introduce daily dividend record dates for the preferred shares. If it passes, STRC would accrue dividends every calendar day starting November 1, with the first payment on November 2. Should STRC hold near $100 after that, Strategy could shift from buying the security to issuing it again, which would reopen a funding source for Bitcoin purchases.
Bitcoin traded at $86,062.75 at the time of writing, up 1.08% over 24 hours and 3.29% over the week, with a market capitalization of $1.72 trillion.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView by Alexander Stefanov
On the daily chart, Bitcoin has consolidated between $82,890 and $87,389 since September 21, after a rally from around $76,000 in mid-September. Sellers have pushed the price back from the upper boundary on three occasions, and a daily close above it would leave the upper Bollinger Band at $89,109 as the next reference point. The band’s middle line, a 20-day average, sits at $83,411, just above the $82,890 floor of the range, so buyers have two nearby levels to defend.
BTC price levels on the daily chart Upper Bollinger Band$89,109 Range resistance$87,389 Current price$86,062.75 20-day average$83,411 Range support$82,890 Mid-September support$75,595 Strategy’s average cost$75,440.70Below the range, the next support is $75,595, where the price bounced in mid-September. That level sits only about $155 above Strategy’s average purchase cost of $75,440.70. A return there would erase nearly all of the roughly $9 billion in unrealized profit the company currently carries, since every $1,000 move in Bitcoin changes the value of its holdings by $848 million.
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