Strategy’s Bitcoin plan faces November 11 index decision

MSCI’s November 11 announcement could remove Strategy from global equity indexes. The decision puts a source of demand for MSTR shares under scrutiny as the company continues using share sales to finance Bitcoin purchases.

Strategy’s next index test arrives on November 11, when MSCI will announce constituent changes that could remove the company from its global equity benchmarks.

The company has challenged the eligibility rules and says the effect of deletion would be limited. It estimates relevant index funds hold approximately 13 million MSTR shares, equivalent to 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding.

The decision reaches beyond whether those funds keep the stock. Strategy regularly sells new shares to finance Bitcoin purchases, and its October filings show that connection continuing even as it directs cash toward preferred-stock buybacks.

During October 12–18, the company raised approximately $22 million by selling common shares and spent $22.1 million on Bitcoin. The following week, it reported neither an at-the-market share sale nor a Bitcoin purchase.

Removal from an equity index would not require Strategy to sell its Bitcoin. It could, however, remove benchmark-linked buyers from a stock the company uses to raise fresh money, adding another consideration to future issuance decisions.

MSCI has adopted the methodology and named Strategy on a potential-impact list. The final constituent announcement is due November 11, with changes taking effect after the November 30 close.

JUST IN: Michael Saylor defends Strategy's $STRC buyback strategy

Saylor says its Digital Credit Capital Framework, launched four months ago, uses programmatic $STRC repurchases as part of its broader strategy to manage its capital structure and build long-term shareholder… pic.twitter.com/XOFztlQCoF

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) October 24, 2026

Strategy says its Bitcoin business is an operating business

Strategy has urged MSCI to withdraw the framework, arguing that the provider has repackaged an earlier proposal directed at digital-asset treasury companies. The previous approach concerned businesses whose digital assets represented at least 50% of total assets.

In its published response, the company said the revised terminology reaches the same businesses through a different set of rules. It described the operating and non-operating classifications as having no basis in US GAAP, IFRS or a recognized legal framework.

The company said it reports its Bitcoin business as an operating segment under US GAAP, consistent with discussions with SEC staff. It argued that MSCI was introducing its own policy judgments into index construction.

Strategy’s objections extend beyond its own potential removal. The company said the framework undermines the neutrality and reliability investors expect from a broad equity index provider.

MSCI’s stated position is that additional corporate issuers with characteristics similar to investment vehicles should be assessed for eligibility. Investment funds, business development companies and other passive investment vehicles were already excluded from its equity universe.

The new methodology evaluates companies using their assets and financial characteristics. It does not identify Bitcoin holdings alone as the condition for removing a company.

As crypto.news previously reported, the adopted index eligibility rules followed a consultation launched on August 3. The feedback period closed September 30, and MSCI announced its decision before the October 16 deadline it had set.

Strategy’s public campaign against the proposal included a request for supporters to contact MSCI. Its response page continues to present the company’s objections and its estimate of the shares held by index-linked funds.

The provider has not announced that Strategy’s accounting-segment designation exempts it from the new screens. The company’s eligibility will be determined through the methodology applied in the index review.

MSCI requires companies to pass operating and financial tests

Under the final October methodology, a company passes the initial screen if operating assets represent at least 50% of total assets. Companies below that threshold undergo five further financial tests.

The tests cover operating-asset intensity, expense intensity, operating cash flow, fair-value intensity and dependence on external financing. An issuer must fail at least four of those tests to meet the exclusion condition.

Existing constituents receive different thresholds from companies seeking entry. For operating-asset intensity, the relevant levels are at least 10% for an existing member and at least 20% for a non-member.

Both groups face an expense-intensity threshold of at least 5% and a requirement for positive operating cash flow. The fair-value assessment includes alternatives based on assets and sales-related measures.

For an existing constituent, the sales-related fair-value threshold is 75%, compared with 50% for a non-constituent. The financing-to-assets thresholds are 30% and 20%, respectively, with an alternative condition concerning whether capital raising financed asset accumulation.

MSCI requires existing constituents to fail the relevant screening in both of their two most recent annual filing periods before deletion. A prospective entrant can be ineligible if it fails in either period.

The first four financial tests are assessed separately for each period. Capital dependence is assessed across the periods collectively, and MSCI may consider the latest interim information where appropriate.

The methodology schedules reviews alongside the February, May, August and November index reviews. For November, it generally considers financial filings published by the last business day of September.

The publication cutoff precedes Strategy’s October 29 earnings release. MSCI’s methodology permits consideration of interim information, but the provider has not published a company-level explanation of the final inputs it will use for Strategy in November.

The rules will replace interim restrictions imposed in October 2025 on certain companies with digital assets worth at least 50% of total assets. Those restrictions had limited increases in index share counts and inclusion factors and deferred some additions and size-category changes.

The potential-impact list names Strategy and four other companies

MSCI’s potential-impact list identifies five securities as potential deletions. They include Strategy, Metaplanet, Yellow Cake, Iceland’s Skel Fjarfestingafelag and Upexi.

The document uses financial information as of September 30 and market capitalizations as of October 9. It labels the actions as potential November review changes.

Strategy appears as a large-cap constituent with an issuer market capitalization of approximately $43.32 billion and a float-adjusted value of $40.29 billion in that snapshot. Metaplanet appears as a small-cap constituent, with a float-adjusted value of approximately $803.9 million.

Yellow Cake’s float-adjusted value was approximately $1.80 billion. The other two potential deletions, Skel and Upexi, were listed at approximately $102.9 million and $45.3 million, respectively.

The five float-adjusted values total approximately $43.05 billion, with Strategy accounting for roughly 93.6%. The calculation uses MSCI’s dated values and does not estimate the amount of stock held by index funds.

The document places 17 securities in its potential watchlist group. SharpLink appears alongside companies including Urbana, Stack Capital Group, Sui Group Holdings, Ton Strategy and DeFi Development Corp.

The latest list is more extensive than the earlier exercise published during the consultation. That simulation, based on May information, identified Strategy, Metaplanet and Yellow Cake as potential deletions and three companies for a watchlist.

The earlier removal proposal described the two-period requirement for existing constituents. Companies meeting the screening conditions in only their latest period could enter a watchlist before a later review.

MSCI has scheduled the final list for November 11. The potential-impact document does not replace that announcement, and its October 9 market values are not current quotations for the companies named.

Strategy says index-linked holdings amount to 13 million shares

Strategy has argued that removal would not meaningfully affect its business because the relevant index-linked position is limited relative to its share base and trading activity. Its response puts the holdings at approximately 13 million MSTR shares.

The company says that amount equals 3.1% of basic shares outstanding and approximately 60% of its 30-day average daily volume. It compared that position with about two days of trading volume for companies removed from MSCI World during the May 2026 rebalance.

The figures form part of Strategy’s opposition to the rules. MSCI’s public announcement does not provide a separate estimate of the number of Strategy shares funds will sell.

Index funds follow mandates tied to their benchmarks, while the timing and method of portfolio adjustments depend on the product. Some hold every constituent, and others use representative sampling or additional instruments to track the index.

The iShares MSCI ACWI ETF’s summary prospectus describes a representative-sampling approach. The fund seeks to track its benchmark through a portfolio selected to have similar overall investment characteristics.

The SEC’s investor guidance describes both full-replication and sampling strategies among index funds. It lists trading costs and tracking error among the factors that can cause a fund’s returns to differ from those of its benchmark.

Strategy’s 13-million-share estimate concerns the position the company attributes to relevant trackers. It is not a published commitment by all those funds to execute the same quantity at one price or in one transaction.

The final constituent announcement will precede implementation by almost three weeks. MSCI has specified the November 30 close as the effective point for the review changes.

Strategy has not published an estimate of its future share price under either outcome. Its argument is that the disclosed position is small enough relative to trading activity that a deletion should be manageable for the business.

Recent Bitcoin purchases relied on new common shares

Strategy’s recent filings show it buying Bitcoin while committing larger sums to its STRC preferred shares. Between October 5 and October 11, it acquired 250 BTC for approximately $21.5 million and spent $192.4 million repurchasing STRC.

The company said $21 million of the Bitcoin purchase was financed through net proceeds from MSTR share sales. Another $500,000 came from existing USD Cash.

The Bitcoin and STRC transactions lifted its Bitcoin balance to 848,250 BTC. The company’s aggregate acquisition cost at that point was approximately $64 billion, including fees and expenses.

The following week, Strategy bought another 267 BTC for $22.1 million, bringing its holdings to 848,517 BTC. Its October 19 filing showed sales of 140,872 common shares generating approximately $22 million in net proceeds.

The company spent $193.1 million of USD Cash on STRC repurchases during that period. It reported preferred dividends of $45.5 million paid from its designated reserve.

During October 19–25, Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases or sales and sold no shares through its at-the-market programs. It instead used $204.9 million of USD Cash to repurchase 2,068,459 STRC shares.

The October 26 disclosure left its Bitcoin holdings unchanged at 848,517 BTC, with a reported purchase cost of $64.02 billion. The company reported no repurchases of MSTR or its other listed preferred series during that week.

Strategy’s separate cash categories had changed as the repurchases continued. Its USD Cash balance fell from $447.3 million a week earlier to $242.4 million, while the designated USD Reserve stood at $4.83 billion.

The company says the reserve supports preferred dividends and interest on debt. USD Cash can be used for Bitcoin purchases, reserve contributions and other capital-management activities.

CEO Phong Le previously said Strategy intended to buy STRC below its $100 stated amount, with purchases dependent on market prices and liquidity. Management has described discounted repurchases as a way to reduce future preferred dividend obligations.

The company has an existing policy for Bitcoin sales

Strategy’s board authorized a Bitcoin monetization program in June as part of a wider capital framework. The policy allows the company to sell Bitcoin for specified reserve, dividend, interest and repurchase purposes.

The capital framework includes authority to generate up to $1.25 billion through Bitcoin sales to fund the USD Reserve. It permits further monetization for preferred dividends, debt interest and authorized repurchases under the stated conditions.

The company said sales outside those purposes or authorizations would require further board approval. The program has no fixed expiration and does not oblige Strategy to sell Bitcoin.

The same June announcement established a policy of maintaining at least 12 months of expected preferred-dividend and debt-interest coverage in the USD Reserve. A reduction below that level requires board authorization.

Strategy said the reserve could be used only for preferred dividends and debt interest without additional board approval. Repurchases of common or preferred shares were assigned other funding sources, including the permitted Bitcoin monetization program.

The company’s October results reported approximately $431.8 million of Bitcoin sales during 2026 to fund part of its preferred dividends and STRC buybacks. Its weekly filings separately record periods in which it bought coins, sold coins or did neither.

An index exit would affect investors’ shares before company cash

MSCI decides which companies qualify for its benchmarks, while investment managers decide how to track them under their fund mandates. A deletion removes a company from the reference portfolio those products seek to follow.

Funds that hold MSTR to replicate the affected index would need to adjust their portfolios to the revised benchmark. Managers using representative sampling have discretion over holdings within their investment policies, so the public constituent list is not an order for every tracker to make an identical trade.

Strategy’s published estimate of 13 million shares gives the company’s view of the relevant position. It does not identify every manager’s intended execution date or the buyers who might take the other side.

The company argues that the amount is manageable because it is below 1 average day’s trading volume. That comparison describes turnover across the market, where each completed sale has a buyer; it does not establish the price at which an additional block could be absorbed.

MSCI’s potential-impact spreadsheet assigns Strategy a float-adjusted market value of approximately $40.29 billion. That figure measures the company’s index-eligible equity value in the dated snapshot, rather than the dollar amount trackers must sell.

The index provider has not published a forecast for MSTR’s price following the November decision. Strategy’s opposition page argues that deletion would not meaningfully affect the company, while its own filings continue to make new issuance dependent on market conditions.

An investor selling an existing share receives the sale proceeds. Strategy receives cash when it issues new shares, as it did in the October purchase weeks.

The distinction puts the funding question after the portfolio adjustment. A change in demand or the stock’s trading value could alter the terms available for a later company offering, but the index sale itself does not take cash out of Strategy’s bank accounts.

Retention would preserve Strategy’s eligibility under this review. It would not commit funds to buying a fixed quantity of new shares directly from the company or guarantee that management continues issuing at its previous pace.

The November announcement will settle the constituent question before the November 30 implementation. Subsequent company disclosures will show whether Strategy continues to raise capital and acquire Bitcoin during that interval.

The funding question concerns the next purchase

Strategy has built its Bitcoin holdings through capital raising on a scale far above its software revenue. Investors buy securities issued by the company, which then allocates proceeds under its treasury and capital-management policies.

Its October 29 results reported $21.23 billion of capital raised and $14.33 billion of Bitcoin purchases during the year to date. The release reported $125.4 million of revenue for the third quarter.

The company reported $5.41 billion in net proceeds from its at-the-market programs during the quarter. A further $58.7 million came in between October 1 and October 23.

The quarterly and October figures cover different periods, but the weekly disclosures identify how particular purchases were funded. They show common-share proceeds covering almost all of the 250 BTC purchase reported October 12 and the 267 BTC purchase reported October 19.

The 267 BTC acquisition followed sales of 140,872 MSTR shares. That transaction increased the company’s reported holdings to 848,517 BTC.

The next disclosure kept the Bitcoin balance unchanged. Strategy’s October 26 statement reported no at-the-market issuance and no Bitcoin purchases or sales during October 19–25.

The company continued buying back STRC during that week. Its disclosure assigned the $204.9 million purchase to USD Cash, leaving a $242.4 million cash balance alongside its designated reserve.

Those transactions show management choosing among uses of available capital. The company can acquire Bitcoin, support reserve coverage or repurchase securities under its authorizations, and each activity appears separately in its disclosures.

The reserve is earmarked for preferred dividends and debt interest under the company’s policy. Treating its entire balance as money immediately available for additional Bitcoin purchases would overlook those restrictions.

The company’s capital framework leaves future issuance subject to market conditions and management’s assessment of shareholder value. Strategy has said it will exercise discipline when MSTR trades close to its measure of net Bitcoin value per share.

A lower share price would mean issuing more shares to raise the same gross amount, before costs. Whether Strategy would accept those terms, use another permitted funding source or postpone a purchase remains a management decision.

MSCI’s announcement will not determine Bitcoin’s market price, investor demand for every Strategy security or the company’s total access to capital. It will determine whether the affected equity benchmarks continue to include MSTR.

Bitcoin sales remain a separate board-authorized decision

An index fund has no right to redeem its MSTR shares for part of the Bitcoin treasury. Strategy’s securities disclosures state that shareholders have no ownership interest in, or redemption right to, the company’s coins.

The company’s year-to-date Bitcoin sales therefore cannot be described as index redemptions. They are corporate disposals under its own capital-management program.

Strategy has not announced a disposal triggered by the November review. Its latest weekly filing reported no Bitcoin sale during October 19–25.

LATEST: Strategy reported record $21B operating income in Q3 2026

The company has raised $21B year-to-date and now holds 848,517 $BTC, up 26% this year, while reporting that its $STRC preferred stock has returned to “health.” pic.twitter.com/270aPxU2AD

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) October 30, 2026

The company has funding obligations that continue under either index outcome, including preferred dividends and debt interest. Its designated reserve provides money for those payments under the policy management has adopted.

Future filings can show whether management uses issuance, existing cash or permitted Bitcoin sales as those obligations come due. The index announcement alone will not establish which of those sources it chooses.

MSCI’s final list is scheduled for November 11. Any deletion under the November review will take effect after the November 30 close, leaving Strategy’s next reported share sales and Bitcoin transactions to show how it funds the treasury through implementation.

What to watch

November 11 decision: MSCI will publish its final November constituent changes.

November 30 implementation: Any changes under the adopted rules take effect after the close.

Fund holdings: Updated portfolios will show how relevant trackers adjust their MSTR positions.

Company transactions: Strategy’s weekly filings record actual Bitcoin purchases, sales, issuance and repurchases.

Financing: Common-share proceeds and the stated funding source for each Bitcoin purchase will show whether issuance continues through the review.

FAQ

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Figures reflect regulatory filings and reporting available at the time of writing and change with each disclosure. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of October 30, 2026. Legal questions should be discussed with qualified counsel.