Key Takeaways:
Standard Chartered expects Strategy to announce a Bitcoin purchase of as much as 3,200 coins Monday, a 100x reversal of last week's sale that could signal a market bottom.
Standard Chartered said Strategy may have bought as much as 3,200 Bitcoin after selling 32 last week, with an announcement expected Monday that would mark the largest corporate accumulation event in months.
"The low is almost in," Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, told clients. "When we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100,000, we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted."
Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and May 31, generating about $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 to fund dividend obligations on its STRC preferred shares, which carry an 11.5% annual variable rate. Kendrick said a purchase of 320 BTC or 3,200 BTC — equal to 10 times or 100 times the sale — would mirror the company's 2022 pattern, when it sold 704 BTC and bought 810 two days later.
A confirmed purchase would reinforce the narrative of continued institutional Bitcoin accumulation after a period of heavy outflows. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged $4.4 billion in net outflows over 13 trading days through early June, the longest withdrawal streak since the products launched in early 2024. Bitcoin traded at $63,157 as of Thursday, down 13.8% in the past week and more than 20% in the past month, according to TradingView data.
The sale marked Strategy's first net reduction of its Bitcoin holdings in years, breaking from co-founder Michael Saylor's well-known "never sell" posture. The transaction rattled markets — Bitcoin fell below $72,000 the same day the SEC filing appeared, and Strategy's stock dropped near 6%. STRC shares traded around $94, a 6% discount to their $100 par value, prompting some market participants to question the sustainability of the dividend structure.
Kendrick said the sell-off has already flushed out excess leverage. Bitcoin futures liquidations reached about $1.5 billion during the current drawdown, a figure in line with January's liquidation event. With BTC underperforming equities through 2026, forced selling risk has diminished, he said.
Standard Chartered's $100,000 year-end Bitcoin target remains unchanged. A purchase announcement as early as Monday would serve as "a tentative sign the low has been printed," Kendrick said, adding that capital markets have poured $400 billion into AI infrastructure over the past six months — a rotation he described as capital allocation, not a Bitcoin impairment.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
