MicroStrategy's stock could do something it hasn't done in 24 years as bitcoin surges

MW MicroStrategy's stock could do something it hasn't done in 24 years as bitcoin surges

By Tomi Kilgore

The stock heads for a 4th-straight record high, and 4th-straight double-digit gain, as $100K is in sight for bitcoin

MicroStrategy Inc.'s big bet on bitcoin is paying off in a big way, as shares of the cryptocurrency play and software company looked to continue their historic surge to record highs.

Thursday's rally in the stock $(MSTR.AU)$ comes as bitcoin (BTCUSD) is fast approaching the $100,000 milestone amid continued exuberance since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.

Bitcoin climbed 3.2% in recent trading, but was up as much as 4.2% at an all-time intraday high above $98,349 earlier in the session.

MicroStrategy's stock ran up 12.7% in premarket trading, to put it on track for a fourth-straight record gain.

The stock was also headed for a fourth-straight double-digit percentage gain, which it hasn't accomplished since the four-day stretch that ended June 9, 2000.

At current premarket prices, the stock has soared 56.8% over the past four sessions and has rocketed 134.4% since Trump's election win.

Among other bitcoin plays, shares of Mara Holdings Inc. $(MARA)$, formerly known as Marathon Digital, climbed 9.7% in Thursday's premarket, Coinbase Global Inc.'s stock $(COIN)$ rose 2.2% and Robinhood Markets Inc. shares (HOOD) tacked on 3.8%.

That bitcoin exuberance was fueled this week as Trump said he plans to nominate crypto-friendly Howard Lutnick to be his commerce secretary and as the Nasdaq started to allow options trading on BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF IBIT for the first time. The ETF rose 3.5% in Thursday's premarket.

Read: Crypto traders are betting on bitcoin at $174,000 in 2026. What options on BlackRock's bitcoin ETF tells us.

In addition, reports surfaced that Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. $(DJT)$, the parent of Trump's Truth Social social-media platform, was near a deal to buy cryptocurrency platform Bakkt Holdings Inc. $(BKKT)$, which Bakkt declined to comment on.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy, which years ago adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, continued to gobble up the cryptocurrency.

On Wednesday, the company announced an upsized offering of $2.6 billion in convertible debt, with plans to use the proceeds to buy more bitcoin. And earlier this week, the company said it spent $4.6 billion to buy 51,780 bitcoins, to boost its stash to about 331,200 bitcoins.

That's part of MicroStrategy's "strategic goal" announced in October to raise $42 billion worth of capital over the next three years, through equity and debt sales, to buy more bitcoin.

MicroStrategy's stock has blasted 745.5% higher year to date, while bitcoin has shot up 132.5% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 24.1%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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November 21, 2024 09:18 ET (14:18 GMT)

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