Passive funds face a Nov. 30 rebalance that will remove a major bitcoin treasury stock from a U.S. equity benchmark. Strategy Inc NASDAQMSTR, the bitcoin treasury and enterprise-software company with 850,364 bitcoin as of Nov. 8, will leave the MSCI USA Index at that close.
The final review published on Nov. 11 lists “STRATEGY A” among the deletions. MSCI Inc. NYSEMSCI, the provider of indexes and investment analytics, announced 24 deletions and one addition for its USA benchmark.
The closing quote for NASDAQMSTR was US$122.35 at 4:00 p.m. EST on Nov. 11. MSCI had scheduled its review announcement for shortly after 5:00 p.m. EST, so that closing price does not measure trading after the announcement.
The Nov. 30 deletion exposes holders to selling by portfolios seeking to track the benchmark's constituents. MSCI's public list does not quantify tracking funds' Strategy holdings or provide a dollar outflow forecast, so the confirmed removal supplies no verified total for passive selling.
MSCI Will Apply Two Screens
The deletion follows MSCI's Oct. 15 adoption of new eligibility rules for its Global Investable Market Indexes. Those changes take effect in the November review, adding corporate issuers classified as non-operating to previously ineligible investment funds, business development companies and other passive investment vehicles.
MSCI will first screen for substantial operating assets. Issuers that fail that initial screen face a second test using five financial ratios that the provider describes as non-industry-specific; a security becomes ineligible if it is flagged on at least four.
“Current constituents will be removed only if they fail the ineligibility screen in each of the two most recent annual filing periods,” MSCI said in its Oct. 15 announcement.
“Current constituents will be removed only if they fail the ineligibility screen in each of the two most recent annual filing periods,” MSCI said in its Oct. 15 announcement.
MSCI said it may also use the most recent interim filing, if available. For companies seeking admission, failure in either of the two most recent annual filing periods prevents addition, while buffers also apply to the ratios' eligibility thresholds.
The same November review ends interim measures announced on Oct. 10, 2025, for a preliminary list of companies whose digital assets represented at least 50 per cent of total assets. Those measures froze increases in index share counts and inclusion factors, and deferred additions and size-segment migrations.
MSCI said eligibility for those companies will instead be assessed under the new methodology. Its Nov. 11 deletion list identifies Strategy's security but does not publish the company's individual screening calculations.
Strategy Opposed The Eligibility Test
Strategy opposed the proposed test in an Aug. 31 letter to MSCI's Equity Index Committee. It asked the provider to withdraw the proposal and argued that the classifications lacked definitions grounded in generally accepted accounting principles.
In that letter, Strategy described an enterprise-analytics software business employing more than 1,500 people worldwide and generating nearly US$500 million in annual revenue. It also argued that its bitcoin business qualifies as an operating segment and that it actively uses its holdings to develop bitcoin-backed credit instruments.
The Aug. 31 response offered alternatives if MSCI proceeded: revise and republish the methodology, explain its rationale, and apply it only to company filings issued after implementation. MSCI's Oct. 15 decision instead provided for the screening history described above and implementation in November.
Common-Share Sales Funded More Bitcoin
Strategy's Nov. 9 securities filing reports capital-market transactions from Nov. 2 through Nov. 8. It sold 2,051,348 common shares, including sales not yet settled, generating US$283.8 million net of sales commissions.
The company used US$81.9 million of those proceeds to buy 1,036 bitcoin during that reporting period. It reported 850,364 bitcoin held as of Nov. 8, acquired for an aggregate US$64.16 billion including fees and expenses.
The filing also allocated US$188.3 million of the common-share proceeds to preferred-share repurchases during the period ending Nov. 8. That financing pattern underpinned Mugglehead's Nov. 9 report on bitcoin purchases and preferred repurchases.
Read more: Strategy buys US$81.9M in bitcoin using common-share sales
As of Nov. 8, Strategy separately reported a US$4.77 billion reserve intended to support preferred dividends and debt interest. It also reported US$146.2 million of cash for broader treasury purposes, including bitcoin purchases and capital management.
MSCI's Nov. 11 review used a price cutoff of Oct. 20 and allows updates for corporate events and other relevant adjustments before implementation. The next scheduled test for Strategy holders is the Nov. 30 closing rebalance, when the announced MSCI USA deletion takes effect.
