Shares of Strategy (MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, opened sharply higher on March 3 as investors reacted to a weekend Bitcoin rally that was fueled by US President Donald Trump’s crypto reserve plans. MSTR rose by as much as 15% to trade at $295.10, according to Yahoo Finance data. Before March 3, MSTR stock was mired in a two-week downtrend that saw it lose more than 24%.
Since Strategy began accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) in 2020, it has largely traded as a Bitcoin proxy stock. The company has since amassed a whopping 499,096 BTC, making it the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Despite its aggressive buying spree in recent months, Strategy did not buy the Bitcoin dip last week, the company said. Strategy’s Bitcoin gambit has made the company one of Wall Street’s top performers. MSTR stock is up 156% over the past year and has gained more than 1,800% since acquiring its first Bitcoin in August 2020. “In our view, a big beneficiary of the Bitcoin reserve (Bitcoin will still be the lion’s share of the reserve) is MSTR,” said Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani.
President Trump fuels market rebound
MSTR’s rally came on the heels of a massive crypto market reversal that saw Bitcoin bounce from a low of around $79,000 to a weekend high above $95,000. President Trump’s social media announcement of a forthcoming “US Crypto Reserve” was the main catalyst for the reversal. On March 2, the president said the US crypto reserve would “elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden administration.” He said it would include XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Bitcoin and Ether (ETH).
The Trump administration will host the first White House crypto summit on March 7 to discuss regulations, stablecoins and the potential role of Bitcoin in the financial system. In the meantime, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s new Crypto Task Force has met with several companies to discuss regulations and common industry pain points.