Option traders are rushing to place bets on Michael Saylor, crypto’s most vocal evangelist. Call it a strategic rebellion.
Flow around Sailors Strategy (MSTR) and our floating rate preferred stock. STRC Despite Bitcoin’s steady decline that started in mid-May, traders have turned bearish this week after being more balanced last month.
On Strategy Friday, more than twice as many puts were traded as calls, and more than three times more puts were bought than calls, almost triple the average daily volume over the past month. At the time of writing, $250 of the $335 million premium traded was tied to puts.
Some of the biggest put purchases were YieldMax Short MSTR Option Strategy ETF (WNTR)The fund short-sells Strategy stocks while collecting income through put spreads, according to people familiar with the transaction. While Strategy stocks have struggled, WNTR stock has risen 30% since May 11.
Strategy, year-to-date
STRC, a bond-like preferred stock that Mr. Saylor has presented as an alternative to money market funds, fell 3.6% to $92 on Thursday, its lowest price since November of last year.
“Michael Saylor touted STRC as a strategy to avoid selling Bitcoin, but has since moved away from it, spending cash he claimed was on his balance sheet on bond buybacks and then selling Bitcoin, which now has a higher risk factor priced in,” said David Dziekanski, CEO of Quantify Funds, which runs a hybrid Bitcoin-equity strategy. “It will take significantly higher yields for STRC to return to 100.”
Strategy Co., Ltd. Date of establishment
According to ThinkOrSwim data, STRC’s option trading volume reached just over 6,000 contracts, with the most popular directional trades being selling calls and buying puts.
The drop in U.S. Treasuries and rising yields aren’t helping, as Friday morning’s strong jobs report pushed the probability of a rate hike this year to more than 40%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Cryptocurrency prices have struggled in past periods of rising interest rates, which could particularly stress credit instruments like STRC.
Bitcoin fell below $60,000 on Friday for the first time since late 2024.
