Disclosure: The author of this story owns shares in Strategy (MSTR).
Stretch (STRC), the perpetual preferred stock issued by Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest public corporate holder of bitcoin , recorded $1.53 billion in trading volume on Thursday, the most on record.
According to BitcoinQuant, the surge helped fund the purchase of some 11,707 bitcoin through the company’s at-the-market (ATM) program, which allows Strategy to sell newly issued shares to raise capital for additional bitcoin purchases.
Most STRC shares traded at or above their $100 par value. Thursday’s trading activity was more than four times the average daily volume over the past 30 days, which stood at roughly $331 million. STRC currently offers an 11.5% annual dividend, paid monthly in cash.
Trading volume in dividend-paying securities often peaks on the session before the ex-dividend date, the cutoff date after which new buyers are no longer eligible to receive the upcoming dividend payment.
With Friday marking STRC’s ex-dividend date, the preferred shares fell to $99.12 in pre-market trading, down nearly 1%, a typical move as dividend-paying shares often decline by roughly the amount of the payout once they begin trading ex-dividend.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, slipped to $80,500, sending MSTR common stock down 2% in pre-market trading.
