MSCI Drops Strategy From Its Stock Indexes, Putting Up to $2.8 Billion of Sales in Play

MSCI, one of the world's largest index providers, will remove Strategy (MSTR) from its stock indexes. The company run by Michael Saylor holds 850,364 BTC, more than any other public company. The change takes effect after trading closes on November 30.

Why it matters

Trillions of dollars sit in funds that simply copy MSCI indexes. When a stock leaves an index, those funds sell it. JPMorgan had estimated the forced selling of Strategy shares at about $2.8 billion, and up to $8.8 billion if other index providers follow MSCI.

Strategy does not have to sell any bitcoin. But it pays for its bitcoin mostly by selling new shares and bonds. A weaker share price makes that harder, and Strategy has been one of the steadiest bitcoin buyers in the market.

Why MSCI made the change

Under MSCI's new rules, a company whose assets are mainly investments, rather than an operating business, no longer qualifies for its main indexes. Strategy got the status "Deleted" in the preliminary list of MSCI's November review. Japan's Metaplanet, another bitcoin-treasury company, is also being dropped from the MSCI Japan Small Cap index.

The risk has been discussed for a year. In November 2025, Saylor dismissed the risk of Strategy being dropped from MSCI and the Nasdaq 100.

How big Strategy has become

As of November 9, Strategy held 850,364 BTC, about 4.2% of all bitcoin in circulation. That is more than the 792,005 BTC held by BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest spot bitcoin ETF, as of November 10. IBIT has seen outflows on every trading day of November.

What's next

The removal takes effect after the close of trading on November 30. Index funds usually sell around that date.