Strategy’s (MSTR) perpetual preferred stock, STRC, is one week past its April 15 ex-dividend date. with bitcoin Now at $79,000, this is the first time in six months that BTC has increased in the week following the payout event.
At the time of the ex-dividend date, bitcoin was hovering around $75,000, highlighting BTC’s continued strength despite the typical post-dividend adjustment in STRC. Over the past few months, STRC has served as an aggressive financing instrument for the company’s bitcoin purchases.
Like most dividend-paying securities, STRC decreases on its ex-dividend date by approximately the value of the payment, as new buyers are no longer entitled to receive it.
After that drop, stocks tend to recover gradually, often taking about two weeks to return to their face value of $100. STRC is currently trading at $99.47.
This recovery is important because once the stock returns to par, Strategy, the largest publicly traded company that owns bitcoin, can use its at-the-market (ATM) program, issuing new shares and using the proceeds to purchase additional bitcoins.
Strategy shares rose more than 9% on Wednesday to $178 at the time of writing, and the company is likely to leverage its common stock ATM program to fund additional bitcoin purchases.
The strategy revealed the third-largest bitcoin purchase ever made, of 34,164 BTC, while the price initially stayed within its $75,000 range.
However, bitcoin’s rally appears driven in part by positioning. Perpetual futures funding rates remain negative, meaning short sellers are paying out long positions to maintain their trades, a sign that bearish sentiment still dominates.
As prices rise in that environment, shorts are forced to close positions, creating a short squeeze that accelerates gains.
At the same time, a persistent Coinbase premium, where bitcoin trades slightly higher on the US exchange than on offshore platforms, points to stable spot demand.
