Strategy resumes Bitcoin purchases with $65.5M acquisition after brief pause

• Strategy purchased 811 BTC for $65.5 million last week, bringing its total holdings to 849,327 BTC.
• The company generated $164 million from stock sales, allocating $65.5 million to Bitcoin purchases and $98.5 million to its cash balance.
• Bitcoin is trading above the $76,000 support, with a close above $79,500 needed to restore the level lost over the weekend.

Strategy (MSTR) has resumed accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) after a one-week pause, purchasing 811 BTC for approximately $65.5 million as the top crypto continues trading below $80,000.

Strategy adds 811 BTC for $65 million amid market downturn

The company made the latest purchase at an average price of $80,846 per BTC, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 849,327 BTC, acquired for roughly $64.08 billion, according to a Form 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.

Strategy funded the acquisition through proceeds from selling its Class A common stock under its at-the-market (ATM) offering program.

The company sold 1.1 million shares, generating $164 million in net proceeds. From that amount, $65.5 million funded the Bitcoin purchase, while the remaining $98.5 million was allocated to its USD Cash balance.

Strategy also repurchased 2.09 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for roughly $208.2 million during the same period. The repurchases were funded through its USD Cash balance, while another $43.4 million from its separate USD Reserve went toward preferred stock dividends.

QCP flags weak institutional demand as Bitcoin struggles below $80K

Strategy's latest purchase comes as BTC continues to face pressure from weak institutional demand and cautious market positioning.

In its Monday market report, QCP analysts said Bitcoin remained under pressure after losing the $80,000 level last week, though the top crypto avoided a deeper decline.

Bitcoin fell to $76,141 on Friday, its lowest level since September 17, before finding support within the $76,000 to $76,600 range.

Although the decline largely stemmed from the $6.3 billion Binance hack, QCP highlighted continued weakness in institutional investment flows.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $643.2 million in outflows on Friday, pushing October's performance to roughly $515 million in net outflows.

QCP also pointed to declining returns from the ETF basis trade, which involves buying spot Bitcoin while selling futures contracts to capture the price difference. The report stated that the strategy now generates approximately 4.8%, only 0.6 percentage points above US Treasury bill yields, reducing its appeal to multi-strategy funds.

Options markets also reflected cautious positioning. QCP noted that implied volatility around the US midterm elections was priced at 47%, while demand for downside protection remained elevated.

The report identified several events that could influence Bitcoin's direction, including the US midterm elections, the Federal Reserve's economic data releases, the Bank of England's interest rate decision and October's Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data due Friday.

QCP analysts noted that Bitcoin's immediate support stands around $76,000 to $76,600, with resistance between $79,500 and $80,500.

“A daily close back above $79,500 would recover the band lost on Thursday. A break of support would bring the 50-week average near $75,700 into view, with the 200-day near $73,100 below that,” QCP wrote.

BTC is trading at $76,930, down 1.3% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing.