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Michael Saylor wants $100. He’s not there yet.
Strategy — the company formerly known as MicroStrategy — saw its largest dividend-paying preferred stock, STRC, close at $87.31 on the Nasdaq yesterday. That’s a meaningful gap below the $100 par value Saylor has publicly targeted, and the clock is ticking. The dividend snapshot date lands next week, and per Strategy’s own SEC filing, the company wants STRC trading near that stated value before then. So far, the market isn’t cooperating.
VWAP Below $95 Triggers Automatic Rate Hike
Here’s where it gets complicated. Strategy tracks STRC’s volume-weighted average price — VWAP — on a monthly basis, and for June, that figure sat at $94.09 as of yesterday’s close. That’s below Strategy’s minimum threshold of $95. When the VWAP falls short of that floor, the company’s own rules kick in automatically: the dividend rate gets bumped up by at least 0.5% for the next period, rather than the usual 0.25% increase. So if STRC can’t find its footing before the snapshot, the dividend rate jumps from 11.5% to 12% starting mid-July.
That sounds like good news for income-focused investors. It’s probably not. A 12% dividend yield on a preferred stock that’s already struggling to hold par value starts looking less like a reward and more like a warning sign. The higher the yield climbs, the more the market is basically saying it doesn’t trust the price to stay up. And the board retains full discretion to alter or suspend dividend payments entirely — a risk that doesn’t disappear just because the rate goes up.
Not a great position to be in.
What Strategy Can Actually Do About It
Strategy has a few levers it can pull here, though none of them are clean. The most obvious would be buying back STRC on the open market — but the company has shown zero interest in that. Strategy’s whole model runs in the opposite direction: sell STRC, raise capital, buy more Bitcoin. Buybacks would basically contradict the entire playbook.
A second option is pausing new STRC issuance when the price is near $100.01. The logic there is straightforward. Halting dilution could create some breathing room for the stock to appreciate, since fresh supply near par has historically capped upside. Strategy has done something like this before, and it’s probably the most realistic near-term lever available. Whether the board actually uses it this time is unclear.
Adding more USD to its cash reserves is another route. Strategy already has $1.4 billion sitting in reserve, but that hasn’t moved STRC shareholders much. The market seems to be shrugging at that cushion for now. Maybe a larger cash signal would shift sentiment. Maybe not.
Then there’s the wildcard: a surprise benefit for shareholders. CEO Phong Le recently bought $1 million worth of STRC shares himself, which is a notable gesture — but it’s pretty modest next to his annual compensation, and the trading volume on STRC dwarfs that figure easily. One executive purchase doesn’t make a trend. Still, if the board decided to pair that kind of move with a one-time special dividend or some other creative incentive, it could at least generate some buzz. No details on whether that’s actually being considered.
STRC Has Hit $100 Before — Can It Again?
It’s worth remembering that STRC has traded at or above $100 before. The last time it got there, the conditions were fairly specific: dividend payments were honored on schedule, the dividend rate had been raised to 10.25%, and the company held back on issuing more shares. That combination worked. Whether the same recipe works again depends heavily on how much Strategy is willing to spend and sacrifice in terms of capital-raising flexibility.
The tension here is real. Strategy’s entire financial identity is built around accumulating Bitcoin. Every dollar spent propping up STRC is a dollar not going into BTC. That tradeoff gets harder to justify the longer STRC stays below par. And investors holding STRC aren’t necessarily Bitcoin bulls — they came for the yield and the preferred structure, not the crypto exposure. Keeping those two groups happy at the same time is kind of a structural headache.
Phong Le’s $1 million purchase of STRC shares stands as the most concrete action taken so far. The snapshot date is next week.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Strategy’s target price for STRC?
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, wants STRC to reach $100 by the dividend snapshot date next week, a goal laid out in the company’s SEC filing.
What happens if STRC’s June VWAP stays below $95?
If the volume-weighted average price for June remains below Strategy’s $95 minimum threshold, the dividend rate automatically increases by at least 0.5%, pushing it from 11.5% to 12% starting mid-July.
