The Nasdaq’s Biggest Winner Was a Bitcoin Stock That Is Still Down 56% in a Year

Quick Read

• MSTR surged 18% on Waller’s dovish rate signal but remains down 56% annually; STRC preferred pays 12% for investors avoiding common-stock leverage.

• Strategy’s $6.7B in convertible debt and $401M in preferred dividends sit against 846,000 BTC marked below cost basis, amplifying every move in both directions.

• Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.

The oddity of Thursday’s session: on a day markets cheered fading rate-hike odds, the Nasdaq’s single biggest gainer was Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), the leveraged Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) holding company, closing at $144.82, up 18% on the day.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he would be “inclined to support holding rates steady,” which dropped September rate-hike odds from 63% to 50%. Treasury yields fell, and the most leveraged bitcoin bet on the tape ripped. Three days earlier, a CNBC panel warned that a hawkish Fed and debt financing made Strategy’s resumed bitcoin buying risky. That exact macro risk flipped for one session.

Leverage That Cuts Both Ways

Here’s the payoff investors came for. Even after Thursday’s rip, MSTR is down 56% over twelve months, while bitcoin itself has fallen roughly 31% over the past year. The leverage that made Thursday spectacular is the same leverage that cost holders nearly twice bitcoin’s annual loss. Strategy still carries $6.7B in convertible debt and $400.7M in Q2 preferred dividend obligations, against 846,000 BTC marked well below cost basis.

Did Any of Your Stocks Make the Top 10 List?

It is an uncomfortable question, and there is now an answer to it.

24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.

Open your account and look at what you own. Some of it you bought for a reason you could still defend today. Some of it you bought years ago for a reason you can no longer remember.

The report is free. Put the ten next to what you own and find out which is which.

Free from 24/7 Wall St. It lands in your inbox.

Yield Angle Hiding Behind the Volatility

I’ve been watching bitcoin treasury plays since Saylor’s first purchase in 2020, and the equity swings still surprise me. For investors uncomfortable with common-stock leverage, Strategy’s preferred stack offers a different angle. Stretch (NASDAQ:STRC) trades near par with a 12.00% annualized dividend, backed by a $3.75B USD Reserve covering 2.1+ years of obligations. If you believe bitcoin holds above cost basis and the Fed stays patient, the yield stack pays you to wait. If capital markets tighten, that 3.75% fed funds upper bound with a hike now in play puts the debt load back at center stage. A position like MSTR belongs in the speculation sleeve of a portfolio, not the core, and we wrote a free playbook on sizing that sleeve so one 18% day (or a matching drop) does not blow up the plan: Small Stakes, Big Swings. Thursday’s rally is one Fed comment away from reversing.

Source: finance.yahoo.com