Strategy raised $5.4 billion in Q3 but bought $588 million of Bitcoin

Less than 11 cents per dollar went to Bitcoin

Strategy raised $5.4 billion from selling its own shares between July and September. In the same period, it bought $588 million worth of Bitcoin, known as BTC. That means less than 11 cents from every $1 raised went to BTC.

Strategy calls share sales through the market an "ATM," short for at-the-market sale. This is when a company sells its own shares directly to investors. The company makes little cash from its normal business, so it often sells shares to pay for BTC purchases.

The main numbers from the quarter

• Strategy sold shares worth $5.4 billion from July to September.
• It spent $588 million on BTC in that period.
• It bought 7,218 BTC during the quarter.
• It sold 5,552 of its own BTC for $348.6 million.
• After those buys and sales, it ended the quarter with 1,666 more BTC than it started with.

Where the money went instead

Most of the money raised was not used for BTC. The source says the majority went to repurchases of STRC and dividends paid to STRC shareholders, including cash set aside for those purposes.

STRC is one of several types of shares Strategy sells. The others listed are MSTR common stock and preferred stocks STRK, STRF, STRD, and STRE. The money raised was also used in part for dividends and STRC buybacks after the BTC sale.

The source says STRC buybacks were expensive. It adds that MSTR shareholders had to carry much of the cost of financing the repurchase. STRC had been presented as trading near a stable $100 per share, but it dipped into the $70s and $80s for months, according to the source.

A shrinking share for BTC over time

The source describes the falling share of fundraising used for BTC as a trend. In 2024, it says essentially every ATM dollar became BTC. In the third quarter of 2025, over 94 cents of each $1 still bought BTC.

Then the share fell below 78% in the fourth quarter of 2025. It recovered to 98% in the first quarter of 2026, fell below 77% in the second quarter of 2026, and fell below 11% in the most recent quarter.

Data for the reporting week of October 26 showed the same direction. Strategy had $164 million of fresh MSTR dilution that week, and 40 cents of each $1 bought BTC, according to the source.

What this means for shareholders

Selling shares increases the number of shares owned by investors. That dilutes existing shareholders. In this case, the source says shareholders were diluted by $5.4 billion of share sales, while only a small part of the money bought BTC.

Sources

• Protos