Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, the pioneer of Bitcoin reserve strategies, compared MSTR's open interest to that of other tech giants, saying that Bitcoin makes MSTR interesting! However, MSTR's stock price fell by 50% in 2025, far less than Bitcoin's -6%, leading some netizens to question: Isn't this because it was "short"?
Bitcoin makes $MSTR interesting. pic.twitter.com/XF80ngHGlt
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) January 2, 2026
Soaring open interest: Does Bitcoin leveraged speculation make MSTR more interesting?
Michael Saylor compares MSTR's open interest to market capitalization ratio to other tech giants, arguing that Bitcoin makes MSTR interesting! The chart illustrates that MSTR's open interest to market capitalization ratio is 86%, far exceeding Tesla's 22% and Microsoft's 3%, and argues that Bitcoin's consolidation enhances the stock's appeal to traders as a leveraged Bitcoin exposure.
The "Open Interest" (OI) of a stock typically refers to the total number of contracts for its derivatives (such as options or futures). By comparing the notional value of the derivatives' open interest with the stock's market capitalization, this ratio primarily represents the degree of leveraged speculation and the influence of the derivatives market on the stock price. A high OI ratio indicates that a large amount of speculative capital is betting on the stock.
However, some netizens responded in the comments section of his post:
Isn't this because it's being "short"?
This is actually a confusion between Short Interest and Open Interest. Another common indicator, Short Interest/Float, measures how much stock is being borrowed and sold. A high ratio indicates that the stock is being heavily short. According to data from the NASDAQ website , MSTR's recent Short Interest/Float is around 11%, which is lower than the previous peak (which reached 20%~30%), indicating that short sellers are currently relatively cautious.
Due to sluggish share price, STRC has raised its dividend yield again to 11%.
MicroStrategy also announced that it will increase the dividend yield of its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, to 11%. This is because the company initially set the STRC share price range at 99-101, and therefore can only boost the share price by increasing the dividend yield. This is the second time STRC has increased its dividend yield since its issuance last July.
Potential risks of mNAV premium convergence and MSCI index adjustments
MSTR is projected to fall by 50% by 2025, significantly underperforming Bitcoin's -6%, and its mNAV (current share price to the value of its Bitcoin holdings) is nearing parity. The market is still awaiting MSCI's decision on January 15th regarding whether to remove DAT companies like Strategy from its indices.
This article, "MSTR's Open Interest Far Exceeds Tesla's, Saylor: Bitcoin Makes Micro-Strategies More Interesting," first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .
