Strategy Inc., the company led by Michael Saylor that rebranded from MicroStrategy, was hit with a junk credit grade on Monday as S&P Global Ratings flagged its heavy concentration in Bitcoin and weak dollar liquidity.

According to S&P, the firm’s balance sheet is tied closely to the price of Bitcoin and carries risks that traditional ratings models find hard to treat as stable collateral.

Bitcoin Holdings Drive The Score

Based on reports, Strategy’s Bitcoin stack is enormous — about 640,808 BTC on its books — worth roughly $73 billion to $74 billion at recent prices.

S&P said that while the company owns a large digital-asset hoard, the volatility of that asset and the company’s limited cash flow make it risky under S&P’s credit rules.

S&P assigned a B- issuer credit rating and kept the outlook stable. That B- places the company squarely in non-investment-grade territory, signaling a higher chance of stress if markets turn against it.

S&P Global Ratings has assigned Strategy Inc a ‘B-‘ Issuer Credit Rating (Outlook Stable) — the first-ever rating of a Bitcoin Treasury Company by a major credit rating agency. https://t.co/WLMkFqkkCb

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 27, 2025

Currency Mismatch And Debt Pressure

Reports have disclosed that S&P was particularly concerned about a mismatch: most obligations are owed in US dollars, but most of the company’s value sits in Bitcoin. This gap can force the sale of Bitcoin to meet dollar payments if prices slide.

Analysts and commentators pointed to sizable convertible securities and preferred-stock commitments that add cash demands on the company. According to filings and market write-ups, the firm faces billions of dollars in convertible and preferred obligations spread over coming years.

Saylor and Strategy have made repeat purchases of Bitcoin as part of their stated plan. Those buys have created big unrealized gains on paper, but S&P’s methodology largely treats the token differently from traditional equity when measuring risk-adjusted capital.

Liquidity, Access To Markets

S&P noted that, for now, Strategy still has access to capital markets, which is why its outlook is stable rather than immediately negative.

But the rating agency warned that a sharp drop in Bitcoin’s price or any sudden tightening of funding channels could trigger a further downgrade.

Market participants will watch funding costs, preferred dividend payments and convertible notes for signs of stress.

Investors reacted with mixed signals in early trading. Some buyers treated the downgrade as a formal recognition of a known risk, while others judged the move as a calibration that won’t stop Saylor’s accumulation strategy if markets stay calm.

Trading volume and price swings in both Strategy shares and Bitcoin may rise as traders reassess odds.

Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin edged higher on Sunday as signs of easing US-China trade tensions lifted risk assets, while Strategy’s founder hinted the company kept adding to its Bitcoin holdings.

Strategy Keeps Buying

Michael Saylor posted a chart on October 26 that uses orange dots to mark recent purchases. The visual cue has become his shorthand for new buys.

Based on reports, Strategy added 387 BTC between October 13 and October 20, bringing its total to 640,418 BTC. That number is striking on its own. It shows a steady, deliberate approach to buying even when prices are volatile.

Strategy’s disclosed average cost for its Bitcoin stands at $74,010. The company’s moves lately have been small compared with September, when it took in more than 7,000 BTC across several large transactions. The size of any fresh purchases this week has not been publicly revealed.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s market moves were influenced by broader news. The price of Bitcoin rose about 1.6% on Sunday, while Ethereum gained roughly 2.8%. Short-term swings appear driven more by headlines than by a single company’s actions.

It’s Orange Dot Day. pic.twitter.com/5FSGmxwoNS

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) October 26, 2025

Holdings, Valuation And Track Record

Based on reports, at prices a little over $115,000 per BTC, Strategy’s Bitcoin stash is valued at around $72 billion. That valuation implies a paper gain of more than $25 billion over a total cost basis of about $47.4 billion since the program began in 2020.

Reports have logged 83 separate purchase events in that time, a pattern that has left investors with a clear view of the firm’s playbook: buy repeatedly and report afterward.

Some of the buying was concentrated in September, when the firm added thousands of coins in a few large moves. Recently, however, allocations have looked smaller and more frequent. That shift suggests a preference for steady accumulation rather than single big bets.

Buying Behavior And Market Response

Strategy shares have been trading above the company’s net asset value. That fact suggests investors are comfortable owning MSTR as a way to gain Bitcoin exposure without buying the token directly. The company’s method — announce purchases after the fact and let the market reflect the holdings — has been consistent and predictable.

Geopolitical Headlines Drive Volatility

Meanwhile, officials from the US and China signaled progress in trade talks, and that helped calm some investors. According to reports, Scott Bessent told CBS News he expected the threat of 100% tariffs and an immediate export control regime to have receded.

Earlier in October, China announced tighter limits on rare earth exports used in chip manufacturing. On October 11, US President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods and planned export controls on certain software to take effect on November 1.

Those days of sharp rhetoric caused heavy losses across markets and triggered one of the largest liquidation events in crypto this year.

Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView

According to market snapshots, Zcash rose about 30% in a 24-hour span, moving from roughly $272 to a peak near $355. The coin has been up more than 40% in the last week.

The token’s gain outpaced all other top 50 coins by market cap during the same window. Volume spiked at the same time, showing traders piled in quickly after a single social post touched off the move.

Influencer Posts Spark Buying

Based on reports on social media, the rally was partly driven by traders reacting to a bullish post from Arthur Hayes on X.

Contributors on platforms like Binance Square flagged the post, and one user known as AB Kuai Dong said an endorsement by what he called a “legendary Silicon Valley investor” pushed people into the market.

Vibe check $ZEC to $10k pic.twitter.com/tBc0WaxzZ1

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) October 26, 2025

Another poster, Clemente, who is listed as a board member at treasury firm K9Strategy, said they joined the trade because they felt “so much FOMO I couldn’t keep myself sidelined.” These bursts of hype pushed more orders onto the books and helped lift the price in a short time.

Past Calls Have Moved Markets

Hayes has prompted market moves before. At a Tokyo conference in August 2025, he predicted Hyperliquid’s HYPE token could climb 126 times over three years.

That call produced a modest market response then — roughly a 5% uptick for HYPE — but it showed how a single forecast from a well-known figure can sway trader behavior.

Market participants say such calls sometimes lead to brief spikes and sometimes to longer trends. Follow-through, depth of liquidity, and general demand all matter.

Privacy Tokens See Renewed Interest

Reports have disclosed that Zcash rallied close to 500% over the last 30 days and crossed a $5 billion market cap on Sunday, according to CoinMarketCap data.

At the same time, Monero, the largest privacy coin by market cap, ticked up about 3.2% to trade near $345 and remains restricted on many big exchanges, highlighting differences in access and regulatory pressure.

Technical Indicators Show Choppy Momentum

According to a recent Zcash price outlook, ZEC is forecast to rise about 52% and reach $558 by November 26, 2025. Current technical indicators are flagged Bullish, while the Fear & Greed Index sat at 51, a neutral reading.

Over the past 30 days Zcash posted 19/30 green days, which is 63%, and showed 37% price volatility. Those numbers point to strong recent momentum but also to a bumpy ride. Some gains may hold if new buyers arrive and liquidity tightens; other gains could fade quickly if selling pressure appears.

Based on reports and the data above, the Zcash move highlights how social signals can trigger rapid trading flows. The numbers are eye-catching. Still, traders and observers will be watching whether demand deepens or the rally is a short-lived reaction to hype.

Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView

According to NYDIG research, Bitcoin’s price moves are driven more by the strength of the US dollar and broad liquidity conditions than by direct ties to inflation.

Greg Cipolaro, NYDIG’s global head of research, said the data show weak and inconsistent links between inflation measures and Bitcoin. That view shifts attention away from the old narrative that Bitcoin is mainly an inflation hedge.

Inflation Link Weak

Cipolaro argued that expectations for inflation are a slightly better signal than headline inflation readings, but still not a tight predictor of Bitcoin’s price.

Instead, Bitcoin and gold both tend to gain when the US dollar weakens. While gold’s inverse relation with the dollar is long established, Bitcoin’s opposite movement to the dollar is newer but visible.

Gold And Bitcoin React To Dollar Moves

Based on reports, gold has historically climbed as the dollar falls. Bitcoin is following that pattern, though its correlation is less steady than gold’s.

As Bitcoin becomes more connected with mainstream finance, NYDIG expects that its inverse relationship with the dollar will likely strengthen.

This makes sense to traders who price everything in dollars and seek alternatives when the greenback loses purchasing power.

Interest Rates And Money Supply

Cipolaro highlighted interest rates and money supply as the two major macro levers that move both gold and Bitcoin.

Lower interest rates and looser monetary policy have tended to support higher prices for these assets.

In simple terms: when borrowing costs drop and liquidity rises, Bitcoin often benefits. The note framed gold as more of a real-rate hedge, while Bitcoin is described as acting like a gauge of market liquidity — a subtle but important distinction for investors.

Illiquid Supply Drops, Selling Pressure Returns

On-chain data show signs of renewed selling. Reports say illiquid Bitcoin — coins held in long-dormant wallets — fell from 14.38 million earlier in October to 14.300 million on the 23rd of October.

That change means roughly 62,000 BTC, worth about $6.8 billion at recent prices, moved back into circulation. In the past, large inflows did exert price pressure. In January 2024, a substantial sum of coins came available that caused the price momentum to soften.

According to Glassnode data, there has been a consistent selloff from wallets holding from 0.1 to 100 BTC, and first-time buyer supply has contracted down to ~213,000 BTC.

The overall assessment from a macro perspective and on-chain metrics is not favorable. Demand from new buyers appears to be lighter, momentum traders appear to have stepped aside, and more coins are now available to trade. This combination can blunt rallies or deepen pullbacks until liquidity conditions improve or the dollar weakens.

Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView