Stretch, Stride, Strike, Strife: Who Gets Paid First? Decoding Strategy Preferred Stocks in Crisis

When the corporate ship starts sinking, preferred stockholders grab the lifeboats first—but not all seats are created equal.

The Pecking Order of Panic

Preferred shares strut between bonds and common stock, offering higher yields than the former and better protection than the latter. Yet when trouble hits, their 'priority' status gets stress-tested like a DeFi protocol during a flash crash.

Liquidation Roulette

Creditors get first dibs on remaining assets (naturally). Preferred holders queue next—unless the fine print includes phrases like 'junior' or 'subordinated.' Common stockholders? They're left holding the bag like bagholders chasing memecoins.

The Fine Print Matters More Than the Dividend

Some preferreds convert to common stock during crises—a 'feature' that turns your safe-haven play into a volatility rocket. Others include cumulative clauses forcing companies to backpay missed dividends... if they ever recover.

Remember: In finance, 'preferred' just means you lose money slower than the next guy. Unless you're the underwriter—they always get paid upfront.

Strategy’s preferred stocks

Stretch, Stride, Strike, and Strife are the preferred stocks launched to facilitate Strategy’s long-term Bitcoin acquisition. The company has ambitious plans to gather $84 billion in two years. Dare bets aim to impress potential investors and attract more capital while creating additional burdens, as the company should pay dividends to the holders of preferred shares.

The bitcoin Defense Department pic.twitter.com/fT9l35Vhuh

Preferred stocks usually don’t grant holders voting rights or limit them. Preferred stocks give holders a share in the company and the right to earn from the company’s capital. These stocks are reminiscent of bonds as owners get dividends for the shares held. More than that, in the event of bankruptcy of the company, holders of preferred stock are paid before common stockholders. However, its bondholders have a top priority in such situations.

While some of the investors met the new asset with interest, others saw it as “a stretch.” Critics consider Strategy shares to be risky. The company needs to keep the dividend payments in a precise and timely manner. The more preferred shares the company offers to raise money, the more dividends it must pay. It increases the pressure on its balance sheets that tightly depend on the Bitcoin price.

STRC is a USD pegged security that offers a high yield, backed by the BTC held by MicroStrategy

If you haven't realized yet, this is very similar to when Anchor protocol offered 20% yield on Terra Luna's UST

Steady lads, deploying more ATM sales https://t.co/zoAqlkQsmx

Stretch

Initially, Strategy offered $500 million worth of Stretch (STRC) on Jul. 21, 2025. On Jul. 25, the offering was elevated to $2.5 billion. The company offered around 28 million STRC shares. Timing of the Stretch launch indirectly confirms it as on Jul. 29. Strategy bought 21,021 BTC, spending a whopping $2.46 billion on it.

Strategy has acquired 21,021 BTC for ~$2.46 billion at ~$117,256 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 25.0% YTD 2025. As of 7/29/2025, we hodl 628,791 $BTC acquired for ~$46.08 billion at ~$73,277 per bitcoin. $MSTR $STRK $STRF $STRD $STRChttps://t.co/4ZOiW4q8Bq

The new Series A Stretch perpetual stock offers adjustable 9% annual dividend payouts. Dividends are paid once every month. It makes STRC unique as dividends for the rest of the preferred shares are paid out quarterly. The company is adjusting the stock price, aiming to keep the stock’s price around $100. Other features include the at-the-market issuance (meaning that Strategy can always sell more STRC, diluting the asset) and the call option feature.

Stride

Stride (STRD) was offered on June 3. Unlike Stretch, Stride is a noncallable perpetual stock. It has an annual 10% dividend paid once in a quarter. Just like STRC and STRK, Stride has an ATM program, and Strategy can always sell more STRD shares.

Just like Stretch these days, the emergence of Stride was met ambiguously as critics were warning about the possibility that Strategy may have to sell its Bitcoin holdings to pay dividends to its shareholders. Some even claimed STRD has “Ponzi vibes” as money raised through MSTR sales may be used to pay dividends to the holders of the preferred stock.

Strike

Strike (STRK) was the first of Strategy’s preferred perpetuals with 8% annual dividend payouts. The offering took place in early January 2025 when the company offered 2.5 million STRK shares. Strike shares are convertible. Investors may convert them to Strategy’s common stock, MSTR, at a 10:1 ratio whenever they wish. 

Strife

In March 2025, Strategy started selling 8.5 million Strife shares (STRF). STRF shares grant holders 10% annual dividends paid quarterly. The dividend payment may rise, reaching up to 18%. As Strife has no ATM program, Strategy cannot release more STRF shares to the market.

MSTR common stock

MSTR common stock appeared long before the Bitcoin pivot of MicroStrategy and even before the creation of Bitcoin itself. The company sold 36 million MSTR back in 1998. MSTR stockholders are partial owners of Strategy. 

Vanguard Group Inc., Capital International Investors, and BlackRock Inc. are the biggest holders of MSTR common stock. They hold between five and 7.8 percent of MSTR.

Who gets compensated first?

In the event that Strategy is facing financial problems and has to sell its Bitcoin reserves, the first people to get payments will be Strategy’s bondholders. Then, the payouts will hit the pockets of the preferred stockholders. The seniority of these stocks determines the priority among them. The first ones will be Strife holders, then Stretch holders, Strike holders, and finally Stride holders. The last in line will be MSTR holders. MSTR may have the biggest correlation with BTC prices, but the holders risk more than the holders of the preferred stock. 

Oversimplified. But if MSTR doesn’t take action when the price hits that range, it could cause serious issues.

While Strategy is using a sophisticated system to protect its assets if the BTC price volatility increases, there is a risk that, as soon as weaker Bitcoin treasuries start to go bankrupt, it may cause panic that will end up harming Strategy investors’ well-being as well, so it’s always important to get prepared for possible turbulence beforehand.