MSTR trading volumes surge after MicroStrategy’s biggest bitcoin purchase
2024-11-21

MicroStrategy, the business intelligence software firm turned bitcoin trading proxy, is seeing a surge in trading in its stock (MSTR) after completing its largest-ever bitcoin purchase.
On Wednesday, MSTR trading volumes in dollar terms surpassed those for assets like SPY, one of the largest exchange-traded funds on the market. 
“Wow $MSTR is the most traded stock in America today.. to best $TSLA and $NVDA is crazy. It's been years since a stock has traded more than one of those two (it may have actually been $GME to last do it). It's also about double $SPY! Wild times..” Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, said on X.
Balchunas is specifically referencing MSTR's dollar volume, citing Bloomberg Terminal data. In terms of the number of shares changing hands, MSTR ranks seventh according to Bloomberg and second according to Factset.
MicroStrategy announced it purchased approximately $4.6 billion on Monday, its largest transaction series to date. The company, founded by Michael Saylor in 1989, has been executing a strategy of selling debt to fund its bitcoin purchases for years. It also buys bitcoin using cash generated from its traditional business. 
On Monday, MicroStrategy upsized a previously announced convertible senior note offering to $2.6 billion, which will primarily go towards buying more bitcoins. These notes, available only to institutional investors, bear 0% and can be converted into cash or equity.
The company now holds roughly $29.7 billion worth of bitcoin, purchased for a total cost of around $16.5 billion, including fees and expenses, including the massive buying spree last week that brought in another 51,780 BTC.
MSTR is up over 43% to $473 Wednesday. Shares have seen a nearly 910% increase in price since January while the S&P 500 has gained approximately 33%, according to Factset. Bitcoin is up nearly 110% year-to-date.
The T-REX 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (ticker: MSTU), a leveraged play on MicroStrategy stock, is up nearly 50% and is currently the eighth-most traded stock, according to Balchunas.
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