Shares of Strategy posted over 25% in gains during the last five trading days, driven by a record-breaking Bitcoin acquisition and a surge in bitcoin’s price above $78,000. The move underscored the company’s leverage to Bitcoin price movements and its continued reliance on preferred stock issuance to fund treasury expansion.
Strategy’s stock opened April from a closing low near $119 on April 2, then ground higher throughout the month as Bitcoin prices recovered. By April 17, shares closed at $166.52 — a gain of more than 40% from that early-month trough.. On April 17 alone, shares surged 11.8% in a single session on volume that far exceeded the daily average.
Bitcoin price breaks above $78,000 and Strategy’s $2.54 billion purchase
Bitcoin price crossed $78,500 this morning up from an opening near $76,000 and continuing a recovery that began the prior week. The move put Bitcoin up 11.1% from one month earlier and marked its highest level since early February.
Strategy disclosed on April 20 that it purchased 34,164 BTC between April 13 and April 19, 2026, at an average price of $74,395 per coin, for a total outlay of approximately $2.54 billion. The acquisition is the company’s third-largest single purchase on record and the largest weekly accumulation since November 2024.
The purchase pushed Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 815,061 BTC — surpassing BlackRock’s 802,823 BTC held through its spot Bitcoin ETF products and making Strategy the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The cumulative cost of all holdings now stands at approximately $61.56 billion, with an average purchase price of $75,527 per coin.
STRC preferred stock funds the bulk of the buying
Of the $2.54 billion raised to fund the acquisition, approximately $2.18 billion came from the sale of 21,795,389 shares of STRC — Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock — while $366 million came from the sale of 2,165,000 shares of MSTR Class A common stock. STRC accounted for roughly 86% of the financing, reflecting Strategy’s stated pivot away from common equity dilution.
STRC recorded a $1.156 billion single-day trading volume on April 13, a record for the instrument. Strategy also proposed shifting STRC dividend payments from a monthly to a semi-monthly schedule — a structural change designed to improve liquidity and reduce reinvestment delays for income-focused shareholders.
The dividend on STRC remained at an annualized rate of 11.50% for April 2026, the first month at that rate without an increase after seven consecutive monthly hikes since the stock’s IPO in July 2025. The April 30 dividend payment stands at $0.958333 per share. Strategy retains $19.46 billion in remaining STRC capacity and $26.73 billion available under its MSTR common stock offering program.
Back-to-back purchases for Strategy
The 34,164 BTC purchase followed a $1 billion acquisition of 13,927 BTC completed between April 6 and April 12, which was funded entirely through STRC proceeds. That earlier purchase brought total holdings to 780,897 BTC before the larger transaction the following week. The two-week run added nearly 48,091 BTC to Strategy’s balance sheet, representing one of the most aggressive accumulation periods in the company’s history.
Earlier in 2026, Strategy also acquired 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion in March and 1,031 BTC on March 23 — part of a sustained accumulation campaign that has continued despite Bitcoin trading below Strategy’s average cost basis for much of the first quarter. As of Q1 2026, the company reported a $14.46 billion unrealized loss on its digital asset holdings, offset by a $2.42 billion deferred tax benefit.
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