Strategy stock shorts spike to 10-day high

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The short volume ratio for Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) stock spiked to a 10-day high of 46.74 on Thursday, June 18, as a series of adverse developments shook Michael Saylor’s company.

Indeed, after the figure remained close to 40 for more than a week and even fell to a June 15 low of 29.48 as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran helped Bitcoin (BTC) soar more than 7% toward $67,000, the trend rapidly reversed amidst deteriorating conditions.

Strategy stock daily short volume ratio. Source: Fintel

Is STRC driving Strategy stock lower?

By press time on Friday, the preferred STRC – an equity with an effective 12.9% dividend that the firm uses to help finance its BTC purchases – stock’s 11.4% decline from the target $100 to $88.59 drew the bulk of attention.

Specifically, the market moves forced Strategy to pause its program shortly after the high yield led to a small but highly damaging cryptocurrency sale at the end of May. 

On the day, Michael Saylor was forced to go against his narrative of always buying and holding the digital asset and offloaded 32 BTC worth approximately $2.5 million, contributing to a rapid 17% Bitcoin drop.

Bitcoin price one-month chart. Source: Google

Michael Saylor AI scandal

Furthermore, public confidence in STRC and the associated program was further undermined as a part of a December interview on Coindesk resurfaced, revealing that Saylor ‘brainstormed’ the scheme using artificial intelligence (AI) to design the scheme.

Notably, the claim originally went under the radar and triggered widespread online outrage only in June 2026 – approximately half a year later. 

One possible reason is that recent months saw the AI boom narrative get destabilized due to more information on the costs of running the technology becoming available. Compounding the issue were the recent scandals, such as KPMG being forced to pull a report on AI due to the paper being both written with substantial help from an AI and filled with ‘hallucinations.’

Strategy stock price plunges more than 70% from 2025 highs

Meanwhile, Strategy stock itself has been suffering a significant decline in value since hitting its most recent highs in mid-2025. 

After soaring more than 2,500% between 2023 and the previous year, MSTR shares plummeted 74% in the last 11 months and are, at $112.53, down 28.40% in 2026.

Strategy stock price one-year chart. Source: Google

Much like the equity’s rise moved somewhat faster than the Bitcoin bull run, its crash preceded BTC entering a downtrend by several months. 

Featured image via Shutterstock

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