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Strategy (MSTR) closed at $136.83 on Oct. 16, down 9.56% from $151.29, in the first full trading session after MSCI said it would strip index eligibility from companies that mainly hold assets instead of operating a business, News.bitcoin reported. The decline hit the stock, not the bitcoin: Strategy still held 848,250 BTC bought at a $75,444 average, a paper gain of roughly $5.08 billion at the $81,434 price cited in the report.
MSCI disclosed the rule on Oct. 15 after U.S. markets closed. Volume backed the move, with about 31.8 million MSTR shares changing hands, which the report said analysts put at 1.44 times the normal level.
Also read: MSCI Confirms Strategy, Metaplanet Face Index Removal
Key facts
- Strategy’s 848,250 BTC, recorded in its latest SEC filing as of Oct. 11, cost $64 billion at a $75,444 average and were worth about $69.1 billion at $81,434.
- MSCI publishes its final deletion list on Nov. 11, 2026, with the changes applying after the Nov. 30 close at the November index review.
- Preferred shares also slipped: Stretch (STRC) ended at $97.72, its lowest close since Sept. 16, and Strike (STRK) fell 3.5% to $71.24.
- Ambcrypto reported that MSCI will scrap the interim measures it announced on Oct. 10, 2025 for the preliminary list of companies with digital asset holdings at 50% or more of total assets, effective with the November 2026 review.
- JPMorgan has estimated Strategy could face about $2.8 billion in passive outflows if removed, a figure both outlets cite.
A stock move, or a market move?
News.bitcoin noted that attributing the slide to MSCI alone does not fit the tape. MARA Holdings fell from $8.33 to $7.53, down the same 9.6%, and Riot Platforms dropped 11.5% to $13.72, despite no index threat of their own. Coinbase lost 5.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1% to 26,140 as chip stocks extended their decline. The picture the report draws is an MSCI headline arriving in an already risk-off market, with high-beta bitcoin equities absorbing the worst of it.
Metaplanet (3350.T) cut against that pattern. It rose 4.5% to ¥277 from ¥265 in the session after the announcement, even though MSCI’s simulation, which used May 2026 data, flagged it alongside Strategy. News.bitcoin said existing members generally must fail MSCI’s screen in two consecutive annual reviews before removal, which may explain the reaction in Tokyo. Sharplink landed on a watchlist rather than the deletion list.
Also read: Saylor's 'More Orange' Post Signals Another Strategy Bitcoin Buy
Saylor dismisses the ruling
Ambcrypto reported that Michael Saylor, Strategy’s founder, played down the decision, saying it was “not that important to us” and that MSCI is “imposing prejudicial values on digital assets.” Analyst Simon Dixon disagreed, arguing the move removes passive buying pressure and that bitcoin wrapped in financial products and digital credit is subordinate to banks’ financial engineering rather than a resistance to them. Ambcrypto also reported that Strategy and Strive opposed the proposal during the consultation and that TD Cowen backed them, arguing their digital credit operations using bitcoin as collateral make them operating firms.
The reports differ on secondary detail. Ambcrypto lists Sharplink, DeFi Dev Corp, Ton Strategy, Canton Strategic Holdings, Capital B, Sui Group Holdings, Upexi and Solana Company as watchlist names; News.bitcoin mentions Sharplink’s watchlist status but not the others. Ambcrypto also cites MSCI’s stated reason for dropping the 2025 interim measures, which News.bitcoin does not cover.
Strategy holds roughly 3.5 years of dividend coverage in its U.S. dollar reserve, one analyst noted, per News.bitcoin. The company plans to begin paying STRC dividends daily in November, a feature designed to pull the preferred back toward par.
Why it matters
Index membership determines who buys a stock automatically, so removal moves demand from passive funds to discretionary buyers. Ambcrypto reported that if other index providers such as FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones followed MSCI, outflows could reach $8 billion to $11 billion, and that public companies hold more than $100 billion in assets across bitcoin, ether, HYPE, SOL and other tokens. For Strategy, forced MSTR sales expected near the end of November could complicate the financing model behind its bitcoin purchases and its digital credit plans.
What to watch
Nov. 11 is the next dated event, when MSCI publishes the final list of affected constituents. Then comes the Nov. 30 close, after which deletions take effect at the November index review, alongside Strategy’s plan to start daily STRC dividends that month. This article is not financial advice; crypto prices and related equities are volatile and uncertain.
Reported by news.bitcoin.com.
Sources: Bitcoin.com News, Ambcrypto