Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, disclosed on October 19, 2026, that it spent $193.1 million buying back its STRC preferred stock last week. Its bitcoin purchases over the same seven days came to just 267 BTC.
What Happened?
- Strategy repurchased 1,938,780 shares of STRC, its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, using cash it already held.
- Strategy’s board raised its digital credit repurchase authorization from $2.0 billion to $3.0 billion, with $1.16 billion still available.
- The company bought 267 bitcoin for $22.1 million, which lifted its total holdings to 848,517 BTC.
- Strategy sold no preferred stock through its at-the-market program and raised $22.0 million from 140,872 common shares.
- The USD Reserve paid $45.5 million in preferred dividends and ended the week at $4.83 billion.
USD Cash funded the entire STRC buyback
Strategy paid for every STRC share it retired out of USD Cash, according to its SEC filing. Management keeps that pool “to deploy for broader general Bitcoin Treasury Company purposes,” the filing said. Those purposes include buying bitcoin, expanding the USD Reserve and broader capital management. The balance stood at $447.3 million when the week closed. A footnote in the filing confirms that the digital credit program is the one covering Strategy’s preferred stock.
The board also widened the program. Its new ceiling counts commissions, fees and every repurchase made under the program to date. That means earlier activity, such as the prior STRC buyback, already eats into it. STRC was the only series Strategy retired; it bought back no STRF, STRK or STRD shares. The separate MSTR common buyback went unused and still has $1.0 billion open.
Strategy has repurchased $193M of $STRC and acquired 267 $BTC. As of 10/18/26, we hold 848,517 BTC and $5.3B of USD Assets. We have also increased the size of our Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $2.0B to $3.0B. $MSTR https://t.co/ea29gd1OO5
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 19, 2026
Common stock carried the bitcoin buying
This week’s coins cost an average of $82,900 each, funded by MSTR sale proceeds plus $0.1 million of USD Cash. That price sits above Strategy’s blended cost of $75,446 per coin, and its total spend on bitcoin has reached $64.02 billion, fees included.
Net proceeds are reported after sales commission. The filing reports notional value only for preferred stock. There it means total face value used to calculate dividends, so the MSTR line carries proceeds alone.
None of the four preferred series sold a share through the ATM, so their shelf room carried over untouched. That leaves STRC in an unusual spot, with a large unused issuance shelf alongside an active buyback. Strategy used only the buyback side this week. The filing listed these amounts still available for issuance and sale:
- MSTR common: $18,785.6 million
- STRC: $17,510.8 million
- STRD: $4,014.8 million
- STRK: $2,100.0 million
- STRF: $1,619.3 million
The USD Reserve exists to back preferred dividends and interest on Strategy’s debt, and it covered the week’s dividend bill. Those obligations include payments tied to STRC’s variable dividend rate. The weekly draw was small next to the reserve balance, and no USD Cash went toward dividends.
The week shows where Strategy pointed its spare cash. Far more went into retiring STRC than into new bitcoin. Each STRC share bought back is one fewer share owed a dividend, which trims what the reserve must fund over time. Bitcoin buying, by contrast, ran almost entirely on what the common stock ATM brought in.
What’s Next?
The filing does not say why STRC was the only series repurchased. It also does not say what price level would prompt more buying, or whether STRD, STRK and STRF shares could be repurchased later. The same weekly format makes Strategy easy to compare with other bitcoin treasury companies that publish holdings updates.
For anyone already holding STRC, the remaining authorization in each update shows how much buying capacity is left. That figure now exceeds the USD Cash pool that paid for this week’s buyback. Any repurchases beyond that cash would need another funding source.
