STRC, the dividend-paying preferred equity issued by bitcoin treasury company Strategy (MSTR), is designed to hold a price of $100, its par value. It doesn't always work that way.
On Thursday, the stock price dropped below $83, some 17% below the target and the lowest since it debuted in July 2025. The security is meant to be high-yield, low-volatility.
Keeping the stock near par is critical because it allows Strategy to raise capital efficiently through at-the-market (ATM) offerings to fund the annualized 11.5% payout.
In recent weeks, however, a sharp decline in the price of bitcoin , combined with a series of management decisions, have pushed STRC significantly below its intended trading level. Here's how it happened:
May 14: STRC closed at $100 heading into its monthly ex-dividend date, while bitcoin traded above $80,000. On the surface, then, everything appeared normal. (Investors buying a stock on the ex-dividend date do not receive the payout, so the price tends to drop to reflect the lost value.)