Crypto mutiny on Strategy: Shorts target 'MSTR' in bitcoin bloodbath
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Strategy (MSTR) saw put volume exceed call volume by more than 2:1 on Friday, with puts bought three times as many as calls and total premium $335 M (of which $250 M were puts), nearly triple the month‑average daily volume.
- YieldMax Short MSTR Option Strategy ETF (WNTR), which shorts Strategy stock via put spreads, has its shares up 30% since May 11 as the bearish bets on Strategy have intensified.
- STRC fell 3.6% Thursday to $92, its lowest level since November last year, while options on the preferred stock saw just over 6,000 contracts traded, mainly selling calls and buying puts.
- Bitcoin slipped below $60,000 on Friday, its first breach since late 2024, amid rising Treasury yields and a heightened probability (over 40%) of a Fed rate hike after strong jobs data.
- David Dziekanski of Quantify Funds noted that Michael Saylor’s shift away from using STRC to avoid bitcoin sales, coupled with cash used for bond buybacks and subsequent bitcoin sales, has increased the risk premium and now requires a significantly higher yield for STRC to return to 100.
Why it matters: Investors holding Strategy stock and STRC face steeper losses as puts dominate and Bitcoin’s sub‑$60k price pressures the credit‑like preferred shares, while short‑focused funds like WNTR profit from the rally.
