Bitcoin tops $84.5K as Saylor declares ‘The bull market is calling’

Michael Saylor has said, “The bull market is calling,” as Bitcoin has risen to around $84,550, while Strategy has spent more on buying back preferred shares than on buying Bitcoin.

Michael Saylor posted the message on X on Oct. 21 alongside a 20-second video depicting a bull in a suit approaching him as he sleeps. The Strategy executive chairman offered the bullish caption without attaching a price target or a date for Bitcoin’s next move.

In a separate X post, trader Altcoin Sherpa questioned whether Bitcoin’s latest push above a horizontal resistance line would hold.

“$BTC is super strong…breakout real??”

His accompanying chart shows a move through the lower of two marked resistance lines, with another level above the latest candles. The post frames the breakout as a question and does not declare a confirmed reversal.

Bitcoin trades near the top of its daily range

CoinGecko shows Bitcoin was trading at $84,554.27, up 2.4% over 24 hours. Its daily trading range ran from $82,296.14 to $84,719.92, leaving BTC less than $166 below the session high.

A previous assessment by trader Ardi identified $84,200 as the level Bitcoin needed to clear to break its local bearish structure, as crypto.news reported in an Oct. 20 article on Bitcoin’s recovery resistance. The assessment followed a rebound from a weekly low near $79,800.

Against the newer CoinGecko snapshot, BTC stood approximately $354 above Ardi’s threshold. The comparison uses his previously published level; it does not establish that he has issued a fresh assessment of Wednesday’s move.

The Oct. 20 report recorded an earlier CoinGecko snapshot of $82,601.56 and a daily high of $83,249.46. Wednesday’s newer observation was roughly 2.36% above that earlier price, although the two snapshots do not represent matching daily closing prices.

Ardi’s earlier assessment said he would consider long positions toward the top of the trading range after a break above his threshold. The condition concerned Bitcoin’s sequence of lower highs, according to the dated assessment.

At $84,554.27, Bitcoin would need a gain of approximately 18.3% to reach $100,000. Saylor’s Oct. 21 caption does not specify that target, and Altcoin Sherpa’s post offers no timetable for a six-figure price.

Strategy buys 267 BTC while repurchasing preferred shares

Strategy’s Oct. 19 Form 8-K records purchases of 267 BTC for $22.1 million during Oct. 12–18, at an average price of $82,900 including fees and expenses. The company reported total holdings of 848,517 BTC, acquired for $64.02 billion at an average cost of $75,446.

The filing identifies the money behind that week’s purchases. Common-share sales supplied $22 million, with $100,000 coming from cash. No sales appeared in the four listed preferred-stock ATM programs during the period.

Over the same week, Strategy spent $193.1 million repurchasing STRC. Dividing that spending by the $22.1 million Bitcoin purchase gives a ratio of approximately 8.7 to one.

The board raised its digital credit securities repurchase authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion, including earlier purchases. After the change, $1.16 billion remained available as of Oct. 18, according to the filing.

Preferred-stock funding has financed 135,979 Bitcoin purchases

Fidelity Digital Assets analyst Zack Wainwright described the preferred-stock funding model in an Oct. 20 report. Companies sell income-paying shares and use the proceeds to accumulate Bitcoin, with the economics depending on the cryptocurrency’s appreciation exceeding the cost of the yield.

Fidelity counted 135,979 BTC accumulated through those products as of Oct. 5. The figure covers the financing channel discussed in its report, not Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings or its purchases during the latest reporting week.

Between March and May, preferred issuance financed more than 95,000 BTC in purchases and raised over $7 billion, the report said. Fidelity compared the channel with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products, which accumulated 888,185 BTC during their first year after launching in January 2024.

The report cautioned that Bitcoin-focused preferred shares are not equivalents of money market funds. Their success depends on the long-term performance of Bitcoin and the companies issuing the securities.

Strategy lists a 12% variable dividend for STRC

On its STRC dashboard, Strategy listed a 12% variable dividend rate and an effective yield of 12.16%. The displayed share price was $98.71, with a notional value of approximately $8.6 billion across the security.

The company’s main dashboard separately listed $6.714 billion in debt and $13.557 billion in preferred securities. Annual interest and dividends totaled $1.534 billion in that snapshot, alongside a $4.833 billion reserve and $447 million in cash.

Using the reported 848,517 BTC balance and CoinGecko’s $84,554.27 snapshot produces an estimated holding value of $71.75 billion. Each $1,000 change in Bitcoin’s price changes that balance’s gross market value by approximately $848.5 million, assuming the coin count stays fixed. The calculation excludes debt, preferred claims, and cash.

The STRC dashboard displayed Oct. 31 as its record date and Nov. 15 as its payout date.