MSTR is up roughly 9.5% year-to-date, placing it ahead of the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, while the BTC backing its treasury is down 13%.
Strategy’s MSTR stock snapped a nine-month run of losses in April, climbing 33% as Bitcoin (BTC) rose nearly 12% in the same month, according to data shared by market commentator Mark Harvey on X.
The rebound puts fresh attention on whether investors still treat Michael Saylor’s company as a leveraged Bitcoin proxy, even after a rough stretch that badly trailed the cryptocurrency at times.
A Streak That Needed Ending
The numbers in the losing streak were ugly, going from mid-2025 through March this year. July fell 1%, August dropped 17%, and September lost 4%. It was the same story in October, which slid 16%, and November, where a 34% collapse was recorded.
December ended the year down 14%, with the losses continuing into 2026, as January saw a 2% dip and a further 14% fall in February, finished off by a 4% loss in March.
Bitcoin, for its part, did not perform particularly well over the same stretch either, falling over 6% in August 2025, before rising 5% in September. It then dropped nearly 4% in October, fell by about 18% in November, and declined nearly 3% in December.
The flagship crypto posted further losses in the first two months of 2026, before a slim gain of nearly 2% in March brought that five-month red run to a halt.
Looking at the data, while BTC’s losses were significant, MSTR’s were consistently steeper, which is characteristic of the stock’s amplified relationship with the underlying asset. April reversed that. Bitcoin gained almost 12% for the month, finishing near $76,000, while Strategy’s stock more than doubled that return at 33%.
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At the time of writing, BTC was up around 13% over the past 30 days per CoinGecko but down nearly 1% on the week, trading around $77,000 after earlier dipping below $75,000 following the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady.
How Strategy Stacks Up This Year
The broader 2026 performance comparison is where Strategy’s April run becomes particularly notable. Harvey’s year-to-date tracker puts MSTR up around 9.5% for the year, placing it ahead of Nvidia, Block, the Nasdaq, gold, and the S&P 500.
Bitcoin itself is down about 13% year-to-date, which means Strategy has managed to outperform the very asset backing its treasury over this timeframe.
The rest of the crypto-adjacent equities in Harvey’s list have had a rough 2026. Twenty One Capital is down around 7%, Coinbase has lost 17%, and Metaplanet is down 19%. In addition, BitMine is off 23%, and Ethereum (ETH) is down 25%.
Furthermore, firms affiliated with US President Donald Trump’s family, including Trump Media and American Bitcoin, have also had a poor 2026 so far, with the former down 31% and the latter losing 32%.
The outlier at the top of Harvey’s table is oil, up 80% on the year. Ten-year Treasury yields are also up around 6%.
