MSCI drops Strategy, but Strategy need not sell its bitcoin

What happened

MSCI published the results of its November 2026 Index Review on November 11, 2026. All changes take effect as of the close of November 30, 2026. Bitcoin treasury company Strategy will be removed from the MSCI Global Standard Indexes, which include the MSCI USA Index. In the same review, 13 securities will be added to and 100 securities deleted from the MSCI ACWI Index.

MSCI also published a final list of securities affected by its non-operating screening methodology. On that list, Strategy is currently a large cap, and its action in this review is "Deleted". The list shows Strategy's float-adjusted market capitalization as 37,257.960988 million USD, with market capitalizations as of October 20, 2026 and financial data as of September 30, 2026.

The rule behind it

In an August 2026 consultation paper, MSCI proposed to classify non-operating companies as ineligible for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI). The paper describes what these companies share: they create value by accumulating and holding non-operating assets, their performance is driven by market swings, and their growth depends on outside funding.

The proposed screen has two steps. The core screen checks whether operating assets are more than 50% of total assets. Companies that fail it then face five financial ratio screens: operating asset intensity, expense intensity, cash flow, fair value intensity and capital dependence. A company that fails at least four of the five is ineligible. The paper also proposed that current constituents would be deleted only after failing across the latest two annual reviews, and that changes would be implemented in the November 2026 Index Review. MSCI finalized the rule on October 15.

Strategy had pushed back against the rule, calling it "discriminatory" against digital asset treasuries.

Other names on the list

Metaplanet, currently a small cap, is also deleted. SharpLink is placed on the watchlist and is not deleted.

Who sells and who does not

Once Strategy is removed, funds tracking the affected indexes need to sell Strategy shares. Strategy itself does not need to sell bitcoin.

According to Strategy's filing, the company held 850,364 bitcoin as of November 8, 2026, bought for an aggregate $64.16 billion. From November 2 to 8, 2026, Strategy bought 1,036 bitcoin using proceeds from MSTR stock sales. In that period it sold 2,051,348 shares of MSTR class A common stock through its at-the-market program.

The same filing shows a USD Reserve of $4.77 billion as of November 8, set aside to pay preferred stock dividends and debt interest.

What comes next

MSCI's changes take effect at the close on November 30, 2026.

Sources

MSCI November 2026 Index Review announcement: https://www.msci.com/downloads/documents/press-releases/media-room/MSCI_Nov26_QIRPR.pdf
MSCI final list of securities affected by the non-operating screen: https://www.msci.com/downloads/documents/indexes/consultations/equity/Final%20List%20of%20MSCI%20GIMI%20Securities%20Impacted%20by%20the%20Non-Operating%20Screening%20Methodology.xlsx
MSCI consultation on non-operating companies: https://www.msci.com/downloads/documents/indexes/consultations/equity/Consultation%20on%20Eligibility%20of%20Non-Operating%20Companies%20for%20the%20%20MSCI%20Global%20Investable%20Market%20Indexes.pdf
Strategy filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526452693/mstr-20261109.htm

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