Strategy's perpetual preferred stock STRC recorded $1.53 billion in daily trading volume on May 15, 2026. Chairman Michael Saylor announced the milestone on X, calling it an all-time high for the instrument. At that volume, the company could theoretically raise $735.4 million to buy around 9,066 BTC.

What STRC Is and Why It Exists

STRC is Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, traded on Nasdaq. It pays an 11.5% annual dividend in monthly cash installments. The share price is designed to stay near its $100 par value, with the dividend rate adjusted monthly by the board to maintain that anchor. Strategy can redeem shares at $101.

Unlike convertible notes, STRC never converts into common stock. It carries no maturity date. This structure lets Strategy raise capital without the same dilution pressure that at-the-market stock offerings create for existing shareholders.

How STRC Was Built

Strategy launched STRC in July 2025 at $90 per share with a 9% initial annual yield. Since then, the board has raised the dividend rate five times. It now stands at 11.5%. The instrument offers two to four times the yield of money market funds, CDs, or short-term Treasury bills, which has driven steady institutional interest.

In 2025, Strategy launched five preferred stock instruments in total: STRK, STRF, STRD, STRC, and STRE. Together they helped the company raise $25.3 billion and grow its Bitcoin holdings to 713,502 BTC by year-end.

STRC Becomes the Dominant Funding Tool

For most of 2025, common equity sales drove the majority of Strategy's Bitcoin purchases. That changed in March 2026. When Strategy disclosed a $1.57 billion Bitcoin purchase covering March 9–15, approximately $1.18 billion — about 75% — came from STRC share sales. It was the first time STRC had funded the majority of a single weekly buy.

Since April 2026, Strategy has purchased 56,770 BTC. Since March, the total stands at 101,147 BTC. The acceleration followed a slower-than-usual February, and STRC has funded the bulk of it.

Strategy's Current Bitcoin Position

Strategy holds 818,869 BTC as of mid-May 2026. Those holdings were acquired at an average cost of $75,543 per coin. With Bitcoin trading near $81,000, the position sits roughly 7.2% above the average purchase price. At current prices, the total holdings are worth approximately $66.5 billion.

Strategy remains the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury by a wide margin. Close to 200 public companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, but none comes close to Strategy's scale.

The Risk Side of the STRC Structure

The instrument comes with obligations. Strategy must pay the 11.5% dividend in perpetuity. If the company cannot sustain those payments from operating cash flow or new issuances, it faces financial strain. The board controls the dividend rate, which adds flexibility, but also means investors have limited recourse if the rate is cut. STRC also ranks below STRF and existing debt in liquidation priority. If Bitcoin prices fall sharply, the gap between Strategy's holdings and its total liabilities narrows fast.

There is also no guarantee that capital raised through STRC trading volume will translate into Bitcoin purchases. Thursday's volume record is a measure of market activity, not actual proceeds received by the company.

Competitors Are Following the Same Playbook

Strive announced on May 15 that investors in its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, SATA, will receive daily dividends starting June 16. That is a more frequent payout than Strategy's monthly schedule, a direct competitive point. Tokyo-based Metaplanet has also raised capital through perpetual preferred stocks, named MARS and MERCURY, to fund its own Bitcoin purchases.

Saylor said during Strategy's Q1 earnings call on May 5 that he aims to build Stretch into the largest credit instrument in the world. Whether that ambition is realistic depends on whether institutional appetite for Bitcoin-backed perpetual income instruments continues to grow — and whether Bitcoin's price supports the underlying thesis.