Bearish bets on Strategy surge, with net puts tripling calls

Hedge funds and short sellers are aggressively betting against Strategy (MSTR), targeting not only its stock but also its fixed-rate preferred stock bonds (STRC) with a barrage of put options, CNBC reported. The move follows a recent policy shift by the company, which had long vowed never to sell its Bitcoin holdings but has recently sold some of its BTC while pursuing an aggressive strategy of bond issuance and repurchases. On June 5, the trading volume of MSTR put options in the U.S. options market was more than double that of call options, with the volume of net purchased puts reaching three times that of calls. This level of activity is nearly three times the average daily trading volume over the past month. Of the $335 million in total option premiums traded that day, $250 million was concentrated in put options, which are bets on a price decline.