Strategy (ex-MicroStrategy, ticker MSTR) now has a whole stack of public securities that give different flavors of exposure to the same underlying thing:

a leveraged Bitcoin treasury company with some legacy software revenue.

Let’s walk through, as if you’re a potential buyer trying to decide which slice of this capital structure (if any) you actually want.

1. The menu: what each ticker actually is

Common stock – MSTR

• Type: Common equity

• What it is: Ordinary stock in Strategy Inc, the “Bitcoin treasury company” that holds >600k BTC and uses equity and debt to buy more.Strategy+1

• Dividends: None. You’re here for price appreciation (or pain), not income.

• Economic exposure:

  • Very high beta to Bitcoin

  • Plus reflexivity: MSTR often trades at a premium to the value of its BTC + other assets, so your return depends on both BTC and that premium/discount.

Preferred A – STRK (“Strike”) – 8% convertible perpetual preferred

• Type: Perpetual preferred stock, convertible into MSTR

• Coupon: 8% per year on $100 liquidation preference, paid quarterly, cumulative.Strategy+2Stewards Investment+2

• Key twist: Convertible into MSTR if the common gets high enough (e.g., think ~10 STRK → 1 MSTR at a trigger price; exact mechanics are in the prospectus).Stewards Investment+1

• Ranking:

  • Senior to common stock

  • Junior to senior preferreds & debt (STRF / STRC / STRE + bonds).CCN.com

• How you make money:

  • 8% cash dividend (if declared)

  • Price drifting toward / above par as income investors bid it up

  • Equity-like kicker if MSTR moons and conversion becomes valuable

• Who this is aimed at: “Yield with some upside” buyers who want less volatility than MSTR but still want participation if Bitcoin absolutely rips.ETF & Mutual Fund Manager | VanEck+1

Preferred – STRF (“Strife”) – 10% senior perpetual preferred

• Type: Senior-most perpetual preferred (“Long Duration Senior Credit”).Strategy+1

• Coupon: 10% fixed on $100 stated amount, cumulative, paid quarterly in cash (if declared).Strategy+1

• Special features:

  • Governance/voting triggers if dividends are in arrears

  • Dividend step-up penalties if they miss payments (rate can increase over time).Strategy+1

• Ranking:

  • Senior to STRK & STRD (and common), pari passu with STRC/STRE in practice, and below debt.Securities and Exchange Commission+2OTC Markets+2

• How you make money:

  • High fixed income stream

  • Possible price upside if it trades back toward or above par

• Who it’s for: Income-oriented, credit-minded investors who want the top of the preferred stack and are less focused on equity upside.

Preferred – STRD (“Stride”) – 10% high-yield perpetual preferred

• Type: Perpetual preferred (“Long Duration High Yield Credit”).Strategy+1

• Coupon: 10% fixed cash dividend, cumulative and payable quarterly if declared.Strategy+1

• Twist:

  • “Highest effective yield” structure – if dividends are deferred they step up (similar to STRF/ STRE) and can compound up to a high cap (commonly described up to ~18%).PANews Lab+2Financial Times+2

• Ranking:

  • Typically junior to STRF / STRC / STRE (the “senior preferreds”), but senior to STRK and common.OTC Markets+1

• How you make money:

  • 10% headline income

  • Potential for very high effective yield if coupons ever get deferred and then paid with step-ups – at the cost of higher perceived distress risk

• Who it’s for: Yield tourists who are okay sitting further down the stack for more juice, with less structural protection than STRF / STRC.

Preferred – STRC (“Stretch”) – variable-rate, money-market-ish preferred

• Type: Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred (“Short Duration, High Yield Credit”).Strategy+1

• Coupon: Currently ~10.5% annualized, paid monthly in cash, with rate reset monthly.Strategy+2Snowball Analytics+2

• Design goal: Keep the trading price near $100 par by adjusting the yield. Lower price ⇒ higher rate; higher price ⇒ lower rate.Strategy+2Financial Times+2

• Ranking:

  • Part of the senior preferred bucket alongside STRF and STRE.Securities and Exchange Commission+2Contentstack+2

• How you make money:

  • High monthly income stream

  • Modest price upside if you buy at a discount and it trades back toward par

  • The design tries to suppress big price swings versus other prefs

• Who it’s for: People thinking “I want something that feels like a high-yield, ultra-weird money-market / T-bill substitute, but I’m willing to underwrite Strategy’s Bitcoin-centric balance sheet.”Barron's+1

Preferred – STRE (“Stream”) – 10% euro-denominated senior preferred

• Type: 10% Series A Perpetual Stream Preferred – euro-denominated senior preferred.Strategy+2Nasdaq+2

• Coupon:

  • 10% per year on €100 stated amount (liquidation preference), cumulative, paid quarterly in cash, starting Dec 31, 2025 (if declared).Strategy+2Investing.com+2

  • If regular dividends are missed, they compound and the rate can step up toward ~18% until paid.Investing.com+3Nasdaq+3The Block+3

• Currency: Euro; IPO priced at €80 vs €100 stated amount, i.e., initial 10% yield plus capital appreciation to par if things go well.Nasdaq+2The Block+2

• Ranking: Senior preferred, grouped with STRF as “senior preferred stocks.”OTC Markets+1

• How you make money:

  • 10% income in euros

  • Potential price move from issue discount (e.g., €80 → something closer to €100)

  • FX kicker (positive or negative) if you’re a USD-based investor

• Who it’s for: Euro-centric or FX-tolerant yield investors who want top-of-stack preferred exposure with very high nominal yield and are happy underwriting both Strategy and BTC risk.

2. Crucial structural point: none of these preferreds are actually “BTC-secured”

Management likes to market these as “Bitcoin-backed”, but legally:

Strategy’s preferred securities (STRF, STRC, STRK, STRD) “are not collateralized by the Company’s bitcoin holdings and only have a preferred claim on the residual assets of the company.”Strategy

STRE follows the same pattern. That means:

• You are not a secured creditor with a lien on specific BTC.

• Your claim is on Strategy Inc as a going concern, sitting ahead of common but behind debt.

Functionally, you are underwriting:

• Strategy’s ability and willingness to keep accessing capital markets

• Strategy’s ability to avoid being forced to sell BTC at bad times to pay dividends & redemptions

The whole capital stack is pretty reflexive, and critics have called out the “sell new prefs to pay old prefs” dynamic.Financial Times+1

3. How these investments actually make you money

For each class, you’re getting some mix of:

1. Cash income (dividends)

   • STRK: 8% fixed, quarterly, cumulative.Strategy+1

   • STRF: 10% fixed, quarterly, cumulative, with step-ups if missed.Strategy+1

   • STRD: 10% fixed but designed to have the highest effective yield thanks to step-ups and compounding if deferred.Strategy+2PANews Lab+2

   • STRC: Variable coupon, currently around 10–11%, paid monthly; reset aims to keep price near $100.Strategy+2Snowball Analytics+2

   • STRE: 10% in euros, quarterly; missed dividends compound and can step up to ~18%.Strategy+2Stock Titan+2

   • MSTR: no dividend; returns purely via price.

2. Price appreciation / discount dynamics

   • Buying any preferred at a discount to its $100/€100 liquidation preference and then seeing it trade closer to par is extra total return.

   • For STRC, the whole point is to anchor around par via yield resets, so you might clip yield and a small price normalization.Strategy+2Financial Times+2

3. Equity optionality (only STRK + MSTR)

   • MSTR itself is the pure levered BTC bet.

   • STRK has conversion into MSTR: if MSTR rockets to the conversion trigger level, STRK’s value can rerate meaningfully toward its “equity-equivalent” value, not just its income value.Stewards Investment+1

4. Tax angle (for a US investor)

   • Some materials show that STRC dividends have recently been treated as return of capital rather than ordinary income due to negative earnings & profits, which defers tax but eats into basis.OTC Markets

   • That can be attractive if you understand the deferred tax hit later; but you absolutely need a tax advisor to opine for your specific situation.

4. Big risk buckets you’d want to underwrite

If you’re thinking like a prospective buyer, here’s what you need to be comfortable with.

(A) Bitcoin price risk / reflexivity

• Strategy’s whole balance sheet and business model is tied to BTC price.

• A big BTC drawdown compresses:

  • The value of MSTR

  • Market appetite for new offerings

  • The perceived safety of the preferred stack

• There’s a credible scenario where BTC dumps, MSTR sells off, and preferreds also gap down as the market worries about dividend sustainability. Several recent pieces highlight that all preferreds now trade below par and have become more volatile.Seeking Alpha+2Blockspace Media+2

(B) Dividend sustainability & capital-markets risk

• The company’s annual preferred dividend bill is huge – roughly ~$588m per year for STRC, STRK, STRF, STRD alone, before even layering STRE on top.Blockspace Media+2The Block+2

• A lot of commentary notes that Strategy is effectively:

  • Selling new equity / preferreds

  • To buy more BTC and pay prior obligations

  • Which works brilliantly in a BTC bull market, and looks fragile in a severe bear.Financial Times+2Financial Times+2

• All these preferreds are cumulative – missed dividends stack up and often step up (toward 18%). That’s great on paper, but in stress, it becomes a compounding liability that might never be fully honored.

From a credit perspective, you’d want to stress-test:

• BTC price paths

• How many years of dividends can be paid without issuing new securities or massively liquidating BTC

• What happens if equity markets shut down for a year or two

(C) Structural / ranking risk within the stack

You’re not just picking “Strategy vs not-Strategy”; you’re picking where to sit in their capital pyramid:

• On top (worst): MSTR common

• Next: Junior preferreds (STRK, STRD)

• Above them: Senior preferreds (STRF, STRC, STRE)OTC Markets+3Securities and Exchange Commission+3Contentstack+3

• Still above: Convertible notes and any other secured / unsecured debt

So in a bad outcome:

• STRF / STRC / STRE holders have better claims than STRK / STRD / MSTR, but they are still way behind bondholders.

• None of these are deposit-insured, none are government-guaranteed; you’re relying on residual corporate value.

(D) Call / redemption / fundamental-change risk

• STRK, STRC, STRE all have call/redemption rights for the company, especially once outstanding size falls below a threshold or in certain tax/fundamental-change scenarios.Securities and Exchange Commission+3Strategy+3Securities and Exchange Commission+3

• If you buy at a big discount and they later redeem at adjusted liquidation preference, that might be good or bad depending on timing and what the liquidation preference has stepped up to.

• Under “fundamental change” (e.g., take-private, big M&A), you often get a put right at stated amount + accrued dividends, not necessarily any equity upside.

(E) FX & rate risk (for STRE)

• STRE’s cashflows are in EUR.

• If you’re a USD investor, the euro could move materially over the life of the security (which is “forever” on paper). That can swamp some of the nominal yield if EUR/USD moves against you.

(F) Liquidity & technicals

• These are new, somewhat exotic instruments.

• Depth and liquidity vary a lot; spreads can widen dramatically under stress.

• If index providers decide to treat MSTR or these preferreds differently (e.g., potential MSCI index removal for MSTR has been flagged), flows in or out of the complex can hit prices hard.The Economic Times+2Investing.com India+2

5. How to think about each security as a buyer

If you were doing a quick internal investment memo, the positioning might look like:

• MSTR (common):

  • Use case: Max BTC torque, no income

  • Key questions: What’s my view on BTC over 3–10 years, and am I okay with equity-style drawdowns (70–90%)?

• STRK:

  • Use case: Yield + upside call option on MSTR; more equity-like within the prefs

  • Key questions:

    • Do I believe MSTR can get to the conversion trigger levels?

    • Am I comfortable being junior to STRF/STRC/STRE in a severe stress?

• STRF:

  • Use case: Core senior preferred, fixed 10% coupon

  • Key questions:

    • If I treat this as a risky perpetual bond, what’s my estimate of default / dividend stop risk vs 10% reward?

    • How do I feel about the step-up structure (it only kicks in when things are already bad)?

• STRD:

  • Use case: “Maximum juicy coupon; I accept I’m lower in the food chain”

  • Key questions:

    • Do I actually want to be in the instrument with “highest effective yield” in a capital structure that already screams leverage?

    • Is the extra yield worth being structurally weaker than STRF/STRC/STRE?

• STRC:

  • Use case: High-yield, “short duration” proxy; closer to a T-bill on caffeine than to an equity-linked security

  • Key questions:

    • Do I believe the company will, in practice, keep resetting the rate to keep it near $100 in all environments?

    • What’s my comfort level with monthly variable dividends and the possibility they can be deferred and compound rather than paid?

• STRE (EUR):

  • Use case: Euro-denominated senior preferred, 10% nominal with step-ups, BTC-linked credit

  • Key questions:

    • Am I comfortable taking both Strategy credit/BTC risk and EUR/USD risk?

    • Is there a natural euro liability or portfolio reason that makes EUR income attractive?

6. Big-picture takeaway

All of these instruments are different wrappers around the same core bet:

“BTC does well enough, for long enough, that Strategy can service and roll its obligations while growing NAV.”

Your decision is mainly about:

• Where you sit in the capital stack (common vs junior pref vs senior pref)

• How you want to get paid (pure upside vs fixed 8–10% vs variable 10%+ vs EUR yield)

• How much complexity you’re willing to deal with (convertibility, step-up coupons, FX, call features, tax nuances)

If you were writing yourself an actual buy checklist, it would include:

1. Read the latest prospectus / 424B5 for any series you care about (especially STRK, STRC, STRE).Securities and Exchange Commission+2Securities and Exchange Commission+2

2. Model Strategy’s BTC-price-vs-dividends stress scenarios (e.g., BTC –50% and capital markets partially shut for 2–3 years).

3. Decide what role you want this to play: income sleeve, BTC proxy, carry trade, FX bet, etc.

4. Confirm tax treatment of dividends with an advisor (ROC vs qualified vs ordinary).OTC Markets

Viewed that way, these aren’t “safe bond surrogates.” They’re high-octane, structurally complex income instruments layered on top of one of the most aggressive corporate Bitcoin strategies on earth. The upside is real, but so is the tail risk.