Options traders are building bearish positions around Strategy’s (formerly MicroStrategy) flagship preferred STRC stock after the security fell to a record low, adding a new layer of pressure to one of Michael Saylor’s main funding tools for buying Bitcoin.

Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, known by the ticker STRC, closed Wednesday at $89 after touching an intraday low of $88.51.

The close left the security about 11% below its stated $100 level and extended its year-to-date decline to roughly 10.7%.

The move is drawing added attention because STRC was designed to trade near $100 through monthly dividend adjustments.

Instead, the preferred stock is now trading near levels that imply investors want a higher payout for holding it, while options activity shows traders leaning toward further downside.

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Strategy’s $10 billion STRC Bitcoin yield product sinks to yearly low as market demands higher payout

STRC was built to trade near $100, but its drop toward $92 is testing one of Michael Saylor’s key funding channels.

Jun 17, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

STRC options traders take bearish positions

OptionsCharts data for STRC contracts expiring June 18 showed total put open interest of 8,951 contracts, compared with 7,906 call contracts.

That put-call open interest ratio of 1.13 is modestly bearish, but the concentration of activity is more telling. The open interest in puts stood at 1,912 contracts at the $60 strike, 1,230 at the $80 strike, and 916 at the $85 strike.

The same data showed a max-pain level of $95, above STRC’s close, while net gamma exposure stood at-$1.1 million per 1% move. Negative gamma can lead dealers to hedge in ways that amplify price swings when an asset moves lower, though the effect depends on trading flows and market depth.

This option setup indicates that traders are monitoring whether the discount to par becomes persistent enough to force a change in Strategy’s dividend policy or to slow its use of STRC as a BTC funding vehicle.

Andre Dragosch, head of research at Bitwise Europe, said STRC’s weakness suggests that Saylor may need to raise the dividend or the broader rate environment may need to ease before the preferred stock can return to $100.

He estimated that a dividend closer to about $13 annually, or roughly 13% of the stated amount, would be needed to restore the stock to par under current conditions.

That creates a difficult trade-off. Raising the dividend could support STRC’s current price action and reopen the issuance channel, but it would also increase Strategy’s cash obligations.

On the other hand, leaving the dividend unchanged could preserve near-term cash costs, but it risks letting the discount widen further.

Strategy’s dividend runway comes under scrutiny

Strategy has sought to ease concerns over STRC by pointing to the size of its Bitcoin holdings, saying its reserves provide 32 years of dividend coverage. The company holds 846,842 BTC, worth about $54.2 billion at recent prices, making it the largest public holder of the cryptocurrency.

On paper, the coverage claim remains intact. Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury is worth just under $55 billion, compared with about $1.7 billion of annual preferred-dividend obligations. However, that calculation depends heavily on Bitcoin’s market price and does not answer the cash-flow question now facing investors.

CryptoQuant analyst JA Maartunn said:

“If Strategy had to sell BTC to cover those dividends, it would create selling pressure that could push BTC prices lower. That, in turn, would reduce the value of its BTC reserves and shorten the very dividend coverage it’s highlighting. In other words, if sustained, it risks becoming a downward spiral.”

Indeed, the sensitivity of that claim has already become clear. Last November, Strategy claimed it had 71 years of dividend coverage, assuming Bitcoin’s price stayed flat. But since then, Bitcoin’s price has halved, and the estimated coverage period has since fallen sharply.

That does not mean Strategy is close to exhausting its assets. The company still holds a large Bitcoin position and has raised cash by selling common stock.

However, the market’s concern has shifted from asset value to liquidity. Preferred dividends must be paid in cash when declared, while Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings fluctuate with the market and are not pledged as direct collateral to STRC investors.

Quinn Thompson, chief investment officer of Lekker Capital, said pressure across Strategy’s capital structure is likely to persist until the company strengthens its balance sheet and improves liquidity.

According to him, the weakness has extended beyond STRC, suggesting investors are reassessing the company’s broader financing model rather than a single preferred security.

Singapore-based crypto trading firm QCP said Bitcoin’s recent underperformance partly reflects those concerns. Bitcoin has remained below $65,000 even as broader risk assets have traded higher, with traders watching whether Strategy may need to sell more Bitcoin or issue additional MSTR shares to support its preferred-stock obligations.

QCP said Strategy’s repurchase of $1.5 billion of 2029 convertible senior notes, followed by fresh common-stock sales, has added to the overhang.

The company has raised about $200 million through MSTR sales and continued to buy Bitcoin with the proceeds, but investors remain focused on how long its cash runway can support dividend payments without adding pressure to its capital structure.

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Bitcoin has lost the $66,000 level as selling pressure and uncertainty intensify across a market that is now testing support levels not seen since the early stages of this year’s recovery. The breakdown is accelerating, and a CryptoQuant report has identified a specific pattern in the on-chain data that places the current selling in a historical context that traders will recognize immediately.

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Short-term holders are realizing losses at the strongest pace since early February. The “STH Loss to Binance” metric on Binance dropped to -16,400 BTC on June 2. Its deepest negative reading since February 6. As Bitcoin slipped below the $69,000 area. That specific date matters. February 6 marked one of the most intense capitulation sessions of the recent correction, a period when forced selling from recent buyers created the kind of price pressure that ultimately exhausted itself and preceded the recovery attempt that followed.

The current reading describes the same behavioral signature: participants who bought Bitcoin in recent months at higher prices are now sending coins to Binance and exiting at a loss rather than waiting for a recovery that the price action is no longer supporting. The pace of that loss realization has reached a level that has only been exceeded once in the past four months — and the comparison to that February moment is the most important analytical reference the CryptoQuant data provides.

The Strongest Short-Term Holder Loss Wave in Months

The CryptoQuant report extends the picture beyond Binance to confirm that the loss realization pressure is not venue-specific. Across all exchanges, STH Loss to Exchange fell to -38,700 BTC on June 2 — following a major spike of -41,300 BTC on May 28. Both readings exceed the February 6 level that previously marked the most intense capitulation session of the recent correction, making the current two-session combination one of the most aggressive short-term holder loss waves recorded in recent months.

Bitcoin STH Realized Profit/Loss Pressure to Binance | Source: CryptoQuant

The Binance inflow structure adds the detail that prevents the current selling from being dismissed as retail panic alone. Mid-sized investors sent approximately 8,400 BTC to Binance on June 2 — the highest reading since February 6. Larger participants are participating in the loss realization alongside smaller holders.

The historical framing the report applies is honest about what deep realized-loss events do and do not confirm. They do not automatically signal continuation lower. They frequently appear near panic phases and support tests. Moments where exhausted selling creates the conditions for stabilization if demand is present to absorb the supply.

Bitcoin’s behavior around $69,000 is now the critical variable. If the price holds and recovers from the current level, the May 28 and June 2 loss spikes may eventually be identified as the capitulation that cleared the fragile positioning and set the foundation for the next phase. If the price fails to stabilize, the repeated spikes suggest short-term holder stress has not yet exhausted itself. And further loss realization pressure remains ahead.

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Bitcoin breaks down below the $69K level | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

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