How to buy Bitcoin in crisis strategy Coinstar

Key data for the van

• Strategy finances its purchase at a lower price primarily through the sale of equity at ATMs, not through operating cash flow.

• Preferred stock and other financing tools increase purchasing power, but create ongoing obligations for dividends and interest.

• The $1.44 billion reserve is intended to reduce the concerns of “forced sellers” during prolonged market declines.

• A limitation of the model is the cost of capital. Dilution risk, market sentiment and index rule changes can tighten the loop.

Strategy just spent another $980.3 million on Bitcoin (BTC), adding 10,645 BTC at an average price of $92,098 and bringing its total holdings to 671,268 BTC.

It’s a title the company has taught the market to expect. When price weakness occurs, Strategy treats it as an inventory season.

What makes this round more interesting is the background. Bitcoin has fallen sharply from recent highs, and Strategy’s own shares often feel that pullback as leverage.

At the same time, the company built up a $1.44 billion reserve to calm concerns that dividend and interest obligations could eventually force a selloff of Bitcoin during a prolonged downturn.

So the real question is not whether Strategy wants to buy dips; it’s about how he keeps finding the money for it and how durable that machine is if the markets stay ugly.

The “Bitcoin treasury” model.

The strategy treats Bitcoin as the centerpiece of its balance sheet, using public market financing to grow stakes faster than a typical company could through operating cash flow.

In practice, this means raising capital through instruments such as stock market sales (ATM) and other issues, then deploying the proceeds in BTC even when prices are volatile.

To keep the story readable for investors, Strategy relies on a set of native Bitcoin metrics. The key is “BTC Yield,” which the company defines as the change in Bitcoins per share from period to period, its “BPS” ratio, tracking whether each diluted share is backed by more Bitcoin over time.

So the proposition becomes less “we bought more BTC” and more “we increased our exposure to BTC per share”.

did you know Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury model was formal adopted September 11, 2020, when the company’s board of directors approved the Treasury Reserve Policy, making Bitcoin its primary treasury reserve asset, alongside excess cash and short-term investments.

How the strategy funds buying when BTC is falling

Strategy’s dip purchase is financed through capital markets, mainly by issuing securities and converting that demand into Bitcoin.

The company is unusually explicit about this in its filings. In the same Form 8-K that exposed last purchase of 10,645 BTC, it also stated that the Bitcoin was acquired using proceeds from sales within its ATM programs.

1) Faucet “ATM” (common shares)

An ATM program is essentially a permanent authorization to sell shares in normal market trading over time, rather than executing a single, large capital increase.

In the week associated with the last Bitcoin purchase, December 8-14, 2025, Strategy reported selling 4,789,664 shares of MSTR for $888.2 million in net proceeds.

That setup explains how the company can keep buying even when the macro environment looks ugly. It allows Strategy to quickly convert capital demand into Bitcoin without waiting for the perfect “risk” moment.

2) Preferred shares as another way of financing

In addition to common stock, Strategy also issues multiple preferred series. The Form 8-K lists STRF, STRK and STRD, among other things.

During the same week, the company reported selling preferred stock, including STRD and smaller amounts of other series, as part of a financing mix.

The trade-off is that preferred stocks tend to carry ongoing dividend obligations, which is more important when prices fall and sentiment changes. But they also give Strategy another avenue to raise capital when common stock conditions are less favorable.

3) Debt and convertibles: leverage with a long fuse

Even when short-term purchases are financed through ATM flows, Strategy’s broader approach has long included debt and convertible-style financing to increase Bitcoin exposure.

If a company believes that the long-term appreciation of Bitcoin exceeds its long-term cost of capital, it will continue to stack as long as the markets are willing to finance it on acceptable terms.

Analysts who often follow the structure describe it like the ultimate lever machine. When a stock trades at a premium relative to the value of its Bitcoin holdings, issuance becomes easier. When that premium is squeezed, the machine slows down.

All together, it’s a repeating loop: issue common stock, preferred stock, or debt, raise cash, buy BTC, announce progress in Bitcoin per share, and then try to sustain investor demand for the next round.

Because of this, the durability of the Strategy’s buy low, especially during pullbacks, depends less on conviction and more on whether the loop remains open.

Why dips can function as periods of accumulation for this model

On paper, a market downturn is the worst time for a serial buyer. Prices are falling, headlines are turning negative, and lenders are getting pickier.

For Strategy, however, the fall itself is part of the terrain. The company is less focused on timing the bottom and more focused on proving it can continue to rally through volatility.

The catch is that “buying the dip” only works if the Strategy’s cost of capital remains manageable.

With its shares trading at a significant premium to the value of the Bitcoin it already owns, the equity issuance may appear to increase the company’s Bitcoin per share story.

When that premium narrows, something that often happens when Bitcoin and other risk assets fall, issuance becomes more expensive, dilution more painful, and each incremental purchase harder to justify.

This is where strategy becomes reflexive. Strong demand for capital makes financing easier, which supports more Bitcoin purchases and can boost demand.

In continuous reduction, the loop can flow in reverse. Weaker sentiment reduces the premium, tightens funding and slows accumulation. The strategy can still buy in that environment, but the pace is dictated by market appetite for the paper, not how “cheap” Bitcoin looks on the chart.

did you know The strategy is known for buying the dip. At the end of March 2025 grabbed to 22,048 BTC for about $1.92 billion, roughly $86,969 per coin, according to a March 31 filing covering purchases made between March 24 and March 30.

The “USD reserve” of 1.44 billion dollars and what it is for

The most direct answer that the Strategy offered to the question “What if this reduction lasts?” at issue is its $1.44 billion reserve, a cash reserve layer expressly set aside to pay preferred stock dividends and interest on outstanding debt.

The company says the reserve is funded by proceeds from the sale of Class A common stock through its ATM program.

This is important because Strategy’s equity is now part of the story. Preferred dividends and interest on debt are not waiting politely for Bitcoin to recover. If the markets freeze and the company can’t comfortably issue, those payouts become the point where critics begin to question whether owning Bitcoin can ever be used to fill the gap.

The strategy tries to preempt that narrative. In its December 1 ridThe company said it intends to keep enough in its USD reserves to fund at least 12 months of those payments, with the goal of increasing toward 24 months or more over time. It was also stated that the reserve currently covers 21 months of dividends.

In short, it’s a “no forced sell” signal, aimed at surviving the dip while the BTC buying machine is running.

Dilution, higher carrying costs and pressure under the index rule

The first limitation here is dilution.

Strategy’s accumulation loop works because it can routinely sell new securities, especially common stock, through its ATM program and convert that demand into Bitcoin. The flip side is that the number of shares increases over time, which is why the company encourages investors to evaluate performance through the metric of Bitcoins per share rather than raw total BTCs.

In a crisis, dilution becomes a more vocal criticism because the share price is usually lower at the same time the company goes public.

Then comes the cost of transportation.

Preferential dividends and interest on debt are fixed liabilities. When capital rises, these obligations do not decrease. The company then needs a new issue, enough cash on hand — so US dollar reserves — or another source of liquidity to make payments boring.

The longer the drawdown, the more investors focus on whether financing remains open on reasonable terms.

There are also index and rule sensitivities.

Inclusion in major indexes may support marginal demand for stocks, but classification frameworks are still evolving for companies whose core story is managing a treasury of digital assets. MSCI’s consultation on how to deal with companies with significant Bitcoin vaults is one of the clearest items to watch because an unfavorable outcome could change how some funds are allowed to hold or the size of exposure.

did you know During the cryptocurrency crash of 2022, Strategy, then known as MicroStrategy, recorded a $917.8 million paper loss on its Bitcoin holdings in the second quarter of 2022, reported with its earnings on August 2, 2022.

Why earnings can vary drastically now

There’s another reason why strategy can look more “volatile” on paper than it does operationally: accounting. New U.S. Guidance for Cryptocurrencies Held by Companies, ASU 2023-08, is moving qualifying crypto assets based on fair value, with unrealized gains and losses flowing through net income each reporting period.

This means that a sharp move in Bitcoin at the end of the quarter can significantly affect earnings, even if the company has not sold a single coin and nothing has changed in its day-to-day liquidity.

For investors, the reported profit can now resemble a proxy for the Bitcoin chart. In a crisis, this can reinforce the negative picture, even when Strategy is still financing purchases through issuance and cash reserves.

What keeps the “strategy” working

Strategy’s bearish buying looks relentless because the company has built a repeatable mechanism: sell paper, raise cash, buy Bitcoin, then measure success in Bitcoin per share terms. The question for the future is whether that mechanism remains cheap and open when markets are under stress.

• See how much room Strategy still has in its ATM programs and if it continues to convert issuance into purchases at anything close to its current pace.

• Watch to see if the US$1.44 billion in reserves remains a growing cushion or becomes a reminder that dividends and interest are real bills that must be paid regardless of Bitcoin’s sentiment.

• Keep an eye on how index providers and classification bodies treat digital asset treasuries, as changes there can subtly change the buyer group that supports the entire loop.