Bearish Sentiment Grows on Crypto-Related Stocks
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jun 05 2026
0mins
Source: CNBC
- Surge in Bearish Options: This week, the volume of puts traded on Strategy (MSTR) exceeded calls by more than two times, indicating a growing pessimism in the market regarding its future performance, particularly as bitcoin prices continue to decline.
- Shift in Options Strategy: Traders are now employing strategies that involve selling calls and buying puts, driven by the YieldMax Short MSTR Option Strategy ETF (WNTR), which has risen 30% since May 11, reflecting a diminishing confidence in Strategy stock.
- Decline in STRC Stock Price: The preferred stock STRC fell 3.6% to $92 on Thursday, marking its lowest price since November last year, as the market prices in a higher risk factor associated with Saylor, leading to lowered expectations for future returns.
- Pressure from Rising Rates: With treasury yields increasing and the likelihood of a rate hike exceeding 40%, cryptocurrency prices are under pressure, particularly affecting STRC as a credit instrument that may suffer greater losses in a rising interest rate environment.
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Analyst Views on STRC
Wall Street analysts forecast STRC stock price to fall
2 Analyst Rating
0 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Hold
Current: 89.000
Low
8.00
Averages
8.25
High
8.50
Current: 89.000
Low
8.00
Averages
8.25
High
8.50
No data
About STRC
Strategy Inc. is a bitcoin treasury and business intelligence company. The Company provides cloud-native, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered enterprise analytics software to thousands of global customers. Its Software Business segment is engaged in the design, development, marketing, and sales of enterprise analytics software platform through cloud subscriptions and licensing arrangements and related services. Its Strategy ONE platform provides access to AI-powered workflows, unlimited data sources, cloud-native technologies, and performance to speed up time from data to action. Strategy One delivers visualization, reporting, and embedded analytics capabilities across retail, banking, technology, manufacturing, insurance, consulting, healthcare, public sector, and others. Its Strategy Mosaic is a universal intelligence layer that provides enterprises with consistent definitions and governance across data sources, regardless of where that data resides or which tools access it.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Mallers Critiques Perpetual Preferred Equity Model
- Perpetual Preferred Risk: Twenty One Capital CEO Jack Mallers stated that companies issuing perpetual preferred equity are essentially 'signing up to owe money forever', contrasting this with convertible bonds that can be retired through equity conversion, thereby alleviating financial burdens.
- Capital Structure Impact: Mallers emphasized that new perpetual preferreds like the Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock are non-callable and do not convert to equity, meaning companies will bear an interest burden of approximately 11.5% indefinitely, which could negatively impact their capital structure in the long term.
- Financial Engineering Challenges: Mallers outlined four options for Bitcoin treasury businesses facing underwater positions: selling Bitcoin, issuing dilutive common stock, discontinuing preferred dividends, or finding alternative cash flows to fund perpetual coupons, noting that each option adversely affects at least one stakeholder group.
- Cash Flow Alternatives: Mallers expressed a preference for generating cash flow through Strike's Bitcoin-backed loan business, which has a current addressable market of $20 billion to $30 billion and a long-term potential of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, indicating a strategic exploration of new business models.
See More
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- Bitcoin Price Fluctuation: Bitcoin traded around $63,000 on June 19, down from $65,000 at the week's start, reflecting market sensitivity to the Fed's interest rate hike signals, which may further weaken investor confidence.
- Bearish Options Traders: Options traders are betting that Bitcoin's price could fall to $52,000 in the coming weeks, indicating a panic sentiment in the market regarding interest rate hikes, potentially leading to more investors exiting digital assets.
- Ethereum Foundation Executive Resignation: Hsiao-Wei Wang, the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, has resigned, marking turmoil in the organization's leadership that could impact its strategic direction and project advancement.
- New ETF Plans: Franklin Templeton is planning to launch ETFs that convert corporate dividends into Bitcoin, which, if approved, would provide investors with new investment avenues and potentially boost Bitcoin demand.
See More
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- Equity Issuance Defense: MSTR's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor defended the company's equity issuance strategy at the BTC Prague event, asserting that when liabilities and asset purchases are factored in, the issuance becomes 'massively accretive,' countering the common perception of dilution and emphasizing that shareholders are not diluted when calculating net assets per share after adjustments.
- mNAV Calculation Method: Saylor explained that the company's mNAV metric encompasses market capitalization, net debt, and nominal preferred share capital, acknowledging its limitations while advising investors to compare other metrics for a more comprehensive financial picture before making decisions.
- Capital Structure Expansion: He clarified that a billion-dollar company issuing $100 million in equity does not dilute shareholders but expands the capital structure from $1 billion to $1.1 billion, maintaining the same assets per share, highlighting the core impact of fund usage and transaction pricing on dilution versus accretion.
- Lack of Unified Standards: Saylor conceded that there is no single agreed-upon metric in the industry to assess company performance, stating that these business models are still in their embryonic stages, and while some metrics are useful, investors should exercise caution in their evaluations.
See More
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- Monitoring Institutional Demand: While Bitcoin's price recovery is notable, market participants remain cautious as spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen sustained outflows, raising concerns about whether large buyers will return to support prices following the recent correction.
- Strategic Company Developments: Strategy disclosed earlier this month that it sold 32 bitcoins for approximately $2.5 million between May 26 and May 31 to fund dividends on its preferred shares, a transaction viewed as a symbolic shift despite being insignificant relative to its overall holdings.
- New ETF Approval: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved NYSE Arca's proposal for the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF to list and trade, allowing investment in various digital assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum, marking a significant step in the expansion of regulated crypto investment products in the U.S.
See More
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- Mosaic Solution: Strategy Mosaic is positioned as the critical link between data platforms and users, reducing duplicated logic and unnecessary re-engineering by creating a unified metric definition, enabling new data products to be delivered in hours instead of weeks, significantly enhancing business responsiveness.
- AI Readiness: With Mosaic, Diageo's Finance and Commercial teams align on shared metrics, and AI agents query the same governed layer as other analytics tools, ensuring data consistency and availability, thus facilitating practical AI applications.
- Strategic Investment Insights: Strategy's message at the summit emphasized that to unlock the next wave of data and AI transformation, enterprises must simplify their tech stack, strengthen foundations, and help teams make better decisions faster, rather than merely adding more tools.
See More
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- Shareholder Approval: StrategyInc received shareholder approval at its 2026 Annual Meeting to amend the terms of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), transitioning from monthly to semi-monthly dividend payments, reflecting strong shareholder trust in the company's strategic direction.
- New Dividend Schedule: The new semi-monthly dividend cadence will commence on June 30, 2026, with record dates set for the 15th and the last day of each month, and payment dates on the subsequent record date, aimed at enhancing liquidity and stabilizing stock prices.
- Management Commitment: CEO Phong Le emphasized that this adjustment not only demonstrates the company's commitment to its shareholders but also aims to increase market demand for STRC and provide investors with faster reinvestment opportunities through more frequent dividend payments.
- Innovation-Driven Strategy: As the world's first Bitcoin Treasury Company, StrategyInc further solidifies its leadership in financial innovation through this move, aiming to attract more investor interest in its bitcoin-related fixed-income instruments by continuously optimizing its dividend policy.
See More
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- Perpetual Preferred Risk: Twenty One Capital CEO Jack Mallers stated that companies issuing perpetual preferred equity are essentially 'signing up to owe money forever', contrasting this with convertible bonds that can be retired through equity conversion, thereby alleviating financial burdens.
- Capital Structure Impact: Mallers emphasized that new perpetual preferreds like the Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock are non-callable and do not convert to equity, meaning companies will bear an interest burden of approximately 11.5% indefinitely, which could negatively impact their capital structure in the long term.
- Financial Engineering Challenges: Mallers outlined four options for Bitcoin treasury businesses facing underwater positions: selling Bitcoin, issuing dilutive common stock, discontinuing preferred dividends, or finding alternative cash flows to fund perpetual coupons, noting that each option adversely affects at least one stakeholder group.
- Cash Flow Alternatives: Mallers expressed a preference for generating cash flow through Strike's Bitcoin-backed loan business, which has a current addressable market of $20 billion to $30 billion and a long-term potential of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, indicating a strategic exploration of new business models.
See More
Bitcoin Declines as Fed Signals Rate Hikes Ahead
- Bitcoin Price Fluctuation: Bitcoin traded around $63,000 on June 19, down from $65,000 at the week's start, reflecting market sensitivity to the Fed's interest rate hike signals, which may further weaken investor confidence.
- Bearish Options Traders: Options traders are betting that Bitcoin's price could fall to $52,000 in the coming weeks, indicating a panic sentiment in the market regarding interest rate hikes, potentially leading to more investors exiting digital assets.
- Ethereum Foundation Executive Resignation: Hsiao-Wei Wang, the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, has resigned, marking turmoil in the organization's leadership that could impact its strategic direction and project advancement.
- New ETF Plans: Franklin Templeton is planning to launch ETFs that convert corporate dividends into Bitcoin, which, if approved, would provide investors with new investment avenues and potentially boost Bitcoin demand.
See More
Saylor Defends MSTR's Equity Issuance Strategy at BTC Prague
- Equity Issuance Defense: MSTR's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor defended the company's equity issuance strategy at the BTC Prague event, asserting that when liabilities and asset purchases are factored in, the issuance becomes 'massively accretive,' countering the common perception of dilution and emphasizing that shareholders are not diluted when calculating net assets per share after adjustments.
- mNAV Calculation Method: Saylor explained that the company's mNAV metric encompasses market capitalization, net debt, and nominal preferred share capital, acknowledging its limitations while advising investors to compare other metrics for a more comprehensive financial picture before making decisions.
- Capital Structure Expansion: He clarified that a billion-dollar company issuing $100 million in equity does not dilute shareholders but expands the capital structure from $1 billion to $1.1 billion, maintaining the same assets per share, highlighting the core impact of fund usage and transaction pricing on dilution versus accretion.
- Lack of Unified Standards: Saylor conceded that there is no single agreed-upon metric in the industry to assess company performance, stating that these business models are still in their embryonic stages, and while some metrics are useful, investors should exercise caution in their evaluations.
See More
Bitcoin Rebounds Above $63,000 Amid U.S.-Iran Peace Hopes
- Market Sentiment Improvement: Bitcoin rebounded to $63,814.1 on Saturday, up 1.14% from $60,804 at the start of the week, reflecting improved market sentiment driven by optimism surrounding a potential U.S.-Iran peace agreement, despite previous volatility due to Middle Eastern tensions.
- Monitoring Institutional Demand: While Bitcoin's price recovery is notable, market participants remain cautious as spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen sustained outflows, raising concerns about whether large buyers will return to support prices following the recent correction.
- Strategic Company Developments: Strategy disclosed earlier this month that it sold 32 bitcoins for approximately $2.5 million between May 26 and May 31 to fund dividends on its preferred shares, a transaction viewed as a symbolic shift despite being insignificant relative to its overall holdings.
- New ETF Approval: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved NYSE Arca's proposal for the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF to list and trade, allowing investment in various digital assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum, marking a significant step in the expansion of regulated crypto investment products in the U.S.
See More
Diageo and Strategy Discuss Data Governance and AI Integration
- Data Complexity Challenge: At the 2026 Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, Diageo and Strategy highlighted that despite significant investments in data platforms, enterprises still face slow data access and inconsistent metrics, causing business teams to wait weeks for trusted data, which hampers decision-making efficiency.
- Mosaic Solution: Strategy Mosaic is positioned as the critical link between data platforms and users, reducing duplicated logic and unnecessary re-engineering by creating a unified metric definition, enabling new data products to be delivered in hours instead of weeks, significantly enhancing business responsiveness.
- AI Readiness: With Mosaic, Diageo's Finance and Commercial teams align on shared metrics, and AI agents query the same governed layer as other analytics tools, ensuring data consistency and availability, thus facilitating practical AI applications.
- Strategic Investment Insights: Strategy's message at the summit emphasized that to unlock the next wave of data and AI transformation, enterprises must simplify their tech stack, strengthen foundations, and help teams make better decisions faster, rather than merely adding more tools.
See More
StrategyInc Adjusts Preferred Stock Dividend Frequency
- Shareholder Approval: StrategyInc received shareholder approval at its 2026 Annual Meeting to amend the terms of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), transitioning from monthly to semi-monthly dividend payments, reflecting strong shareholder trust in the company's strategic direction.
- New Dividend Schedule: The new semi-monthly dividend cadence will commence on June 30, 2026, with record dates set for the 15th and the last day of each month, and payment dates on the subsequent record date, aimed at enhancing liquidity and stabilizing stock prices.
- Management Commitment: CEO Phong Le emphasized that this adjustment not only demonstrates the company's commitment to its shareholders but also aims to increase market demand for STRC and provide investors with faster reinvestment opportunities through more frequent dividend payments.
- Innovation-Driven Strategy: As the world's first Bitcoin Treasury Company, StrategyInc further solidifies its leadership in financial innovation through this move, aiming to attract more investor interest in its bitcoin-related fixed-income instruments by continuously optimizing its dividend policy.
See More
