Strategy kept its Stretch (STRC) preferred share dividend unchanged at 11.5% for Apr. 2026 — the first time the company has held the rate steady since launching the instrument last July, even as it sits on more than $5.5 billion in unrealized Bitcoin (BTC) losses and has paused its weekly coin purchases.
STRC Dividend Freeze
The company's perpetual preferred share launched in July 2025 with a 9% annual dividend rate. The board raised it every month after that, reaching 11.5% in March following a 25-basis-point bump from February's 11.25%.
Apr. marks the first month with no increase. Chairman Michael Saylor disclosed the hold on Apr. 1.
According to the company's own description, "STRC's dividend rate is adjusted monthly to encourage trading around STRC's $100 par value and to help strip away price volatility." The pause coincides with a halt in Strategy's BTC accumulation. The firm made no purchases last week, ending a 13-week buying streak.
Strategy now holds 762,099 BTC at an average cost of roughly $75,694 per coin. Unrealized losses exceed $5.5 billion, according to SaylorTracker. Despite those paper losses, the company recently unveiled a $42 billion at-the-market fundraising program split evenly between common stock and STRC.
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Retail Investors and STRC
CEO Phong Le disclosed that retail investors now hold roughly 80% of STRC. That figure underscores how individual holders have gravitated toward the instrument as a way to gain yield-bearing BTC exposure without the swings of common equity.
Saylor noted on Mar. 29 that STRC had been less volatile over the prior 30 days than every company in the S&P 500 and every major asset class, all while paying an 11.5% yield. Le also outlined plans earlier this year to shift the firm's capital structure from equity toward preferred instruments over the course of 2026.
Whether the Apr. hold signals a longer plateau or just a one-month breather will depend on where STRC trades in the coming weeks. The next rate decision is expected at the end of Apr.
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