Bitcoin Slips Under Strategy's $75,451 Average Cost Per Coin

Bitcoin fell to about $74,650 on Sunday evening, below the $75,451 average price Strategy has paid for its coins. On those figures, the company's bitcoin stack is worth about $675 million less than it cost.

Strategy's Nov. 2 filing with the SEC shows it held 849,327 BTC as of Nov. 1, bought for $64.08 billion including fees and expenses. At $74,653 per coin at 6:04 p.m. ET, per CoinGecko, those coins were worth about $63.4 billion. The filing is the latest holdings count we could find, so the real total may differ if Strategy bought more this week.

How an average cost works

Strategy has bought bitcoin in many batches at different prices. Its "average purchase price" is the total spent divided by the total coins held. When the market price sits below that number, the holding is worth less than was paid for it. That's a paper position: nothing is lost or locked in unless coins are sold, and the filing reports no sales.

The move behind it

Bitcoin was down 1.4% over 24 hours and 9.7% over 30 days at 6:04 p.m. ET, CoinGecko data show. Reuters reported that bitcoin dipped to $73,708 in late Sunday trade, the lowest since August, and that ether fell to $2,223. Reuters attributed the drop to investor worry that a Democratic-controlled Congress will toughen crypto regulation, and to the roughly $6 billion Binance theft.

At $73,708, the same 849,327 coins would be worth about $62.6 billion, or $1.5 billion below cost.

The last cost basis Strategy published was $80,846 per coin for the 811 BTC it added during the week of Oct. 26. Those newest coins were already above the market price.

In our opinion: the line to check is Strategy's next weekly filing, which will show whether Strategy bought this week and at what price, which moves the $75,451 figure, even if only a little. A company that has put $64 billion into one asset keeps its scorecard in public, and this week the scorecard reads slightly red.