Strive CEO Blames STRC and SATA Sell-Off on Leverage… |

Why Did SATA and STRC Fall So Sharply?

Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole said Thursday’s sharp intraday drop in Strive’s SATA and Strategy’s STRC reflected forced selling from leveraged investors rather than a deterioration in issuer fundamentals. “Today was the most difficult day in the history of Digital Credit,” Cole wrote on X Thursday evening. “What happened today was a leverage liquidation event, not a deterioration in underlying credit quality.” STRC and SATA are high-yield perpetual preferred stocks designed to trade close to a $100 par value. Both products came under heavy pressure on Thursday before partially recovering from their lows. STRC fell to a record low of $82.53 and closed at $88.59. SATA dropped to $92.88 before closing at $97.71. The size of the move was amplified by trading volume. STRC traded 10.6 million shares on Thursday, compared with average daily volume of 3.6 million shares. SATA traded 1.57 million shares, far above its average daily volume of 386,698 shares, according to market data. The trading pattern points to a liquidity event in a product category that had been treated by some investors as relatively stable. When instruments designed around high yield and low volatility move sharply below par, leveraged holders can be forced to reduce exposure regardless of their view on the issuer’s credit profile.

How Did Leverage Turn Into Forced Selling?

Cole said the selloff was tied to investors borrowing against digital credit instruments to increase returns. That structure can work while prices remain stable and financing remains available. It becomes more fragile when prices fall quickly and lenders or risk systems require positions to be reduced. “That works until it doesn’t,” Cole wrote. “When markets move against leveraged holders, forced selling can create a cascade. The selling becomes disconnected from fundamentals and becomes driven by balance sheet constraints.” The key issue is that perpetual preferred stocks linked to bitcoin treasury strategies can attract buyers seeking yield, relative price stability, and exposure to crypto-linked balance sheets. But the same features can encourage borrowing against the securities if investors believe price swings will stay contained. Once prices fell below expected ranges, forced liquidation pressure appeared to overwhelm normal trading behavior. That can create a feedback loop: falling prices trigger margin pressure, margin pressure forces sales, and forced sales push prices lower until new buyers step in.

Investor Takeaway

The selloff shows that digital credit products can carry liquidity and leverage risk even when issuer fundamentals appear unchanged. Investors are not only exposed to the issuer’s strategy, but also to how other holders finance and manage their positions.

Why Does This Matter for Bitcoin Treasury Strategies?

Both Strategy and Strive use digital credit instruments as part of broader bitcoin treasury strategies. When products such as STRC or SATA trade above their $100 par value, the issuers can sell new shares through at-the-market offerings and use the proceeds to support bitcoin purchases or related treasury activity. That mechanism depends heavily on market confidence. A product trading above par can be a capital-raising tool. A product trading sharply below par becomes more difficult to issue without dilution concerns, weaker demand, or higher perceived financing cost. Strategy has increasingly relied on STRC issuance to fund bitcoin purchases. The company recently sold 32 BTC to cover dividends on the preferred stock before buying 1,587 BTC the following week. That sequence highlights how these instruments sit directly inside the operating model of bitcoin treasury companies, rather than functioning as standalone securities. For Strive, Cole said dividend reserves remain intact and that the company remains able to execute the SATA strategy. He also pointed to the recovery from intraday lows as evidence that demand was still present during the dislocation. “What is clear is that there was substantial demand at those prices,” Cole said. “Both STRC and SATA experienced significant buying interest off their intraday lows, resulting in sharp recoveries.”

What Comes Next for Digital Credit Products?

The immediate question is whether Thursday’s drop was a one-day leverage unwind or the start of a broader repricing of crypto-linked preferred securities. The recovery in SATA and STRC suggests buyers were willing to step in at discounted prices, but the move also showed how quickly par-linked products can trade like risk assets during stress. Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor did not directly address STRC’s performance, but posted on X Friday: “Markets are closed today. Volatility is never easy. Bitcoin keeps working. So do we.” For investors, the episode raises 3 practical concerns: how much leverage is built around these instruments, how deep the natural buyer base is when prices fall below par, and whether future issuance can continue smoothly if volatility remains elevated. The products still offer issuers a way to raise capital without selling common equity, and they offer investors a high-yield instrument tied to bitcoin treasury strategies. But Thursday’s trading showed that the structure is not insulated from forced selling. In a market where bitcoin exposure, yield demand, and leverage overlap, liquidity can become the main risk even when the underlying credit story has not changed.