JPMorgan Chase expanded its Strategy (MSTR) holdings by 36% during the third quarter, according to a Form 13F filed on Thursday, bringing its total to 848,932 shares valued at $131.3 million as of September 30, just weeks prior to an anticipated MSCI index removal.
This represents an increase of 224,545 shares compared to the 624,387 shares JPMorgan reported holding on June 30, at which time the position was valued at $57.87 million. Part of the financial increase stems from the appreciation of the equity itself. The implied price for Strategy across the two reports climbed from $92.68 on June 30 to $154.67 on September 30, meaning the reported stake more than doubled in overall worth even though the share quantity only grew by 36%.
The identical disclosure reveals a much larger allocation toward bitcoin exchange-traded funds. JPMorgan maintained 11,408,930 units of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) valued at $539.98 million on September 30, marking a 1,001,295-share or 9.6% rise from the 10,407,635 shares worth $355.73 million recorded three months prior. When rounded to the nearest million, that specific IBIT portfolio equals a $540 million bitcoin ETF investment.
Modest holdings across other spot funds provided a slight additional boost. The financial institution also owned 155,785 shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust worth $5.76 million alongside 66,264 shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF valued at $3.00 million, plus considerably smaller stakes in Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, and Invesco’s Galaxy Bitcoin ETF. Combined, these spot bitcoin ETF units summed to approximately $549 million, whereas derivative option positions are cataloged separately and excluded from that sum.
JPMorgan submitted a portfolio disclosure that consolidates holdings spanning 17 additional subordinate managers, meaning the Strategy and IBIT figures may encompass client, fund, and discretionary allocations rather than a singular proprietary wager, and the enterprise could have altered these positions following September 30. The ledger catalogs 35,990 line items totaling $1.84 trillion in value. Executive Director Michael T. Lees formally executed the documentation in New York on November 12.
Options sit beside the share totals, not inside the $540 million
The $540 million calculation accounts exclusively for common shares. JPMorgan additionally disclosed IBIT call options representing 3,703,200 shares with a value of $175.27 million, alongside put options covering 2,915,000 shares valued at $137.97 million.
The Strategy derivative contracts are even more substantial when measured against the underlying equity. The filing displays put options targeting 1,148,500 Strategy shares with a valuation of $177.64 million—surpassing the $131.3 million common stock allocation—along with call options for 349,500 shares valued at $54.06 million. A 13F document does not clarify whether such derivatives function as risk hedges, market-making inventory, or client assets, and observers should avoid interpreting them as a single directional wager.
Alternative bitcoin-associated equities appeared within the paperwork as well. JPMorgan maintained 1,581,814 shares of Coinbase (COIN) valued at $300.58 million, representing a 13% expansion since June, alongside 128,788 shares of Strive (ASST) worth $3.77 million, which reflects a 179% surge in share volume. Meanwhile, the Bank of New York Mellon, via a 13F submitted on November 5, expanded its personal Strive holding by 28% to reach 237,100 shares.
The filing lands as Strategy slides and bitcoin stays under $72,000
The September 30 portfolio snapshot is already outdated in one critical aspect. MSCI is scheduled to remove Strategy from its MSCI USA Index following the market close on November 30, a measure that simultaneously extracts the equity from the MSCI World and ACWI benchmarks. Strategy shares exchanged hands near $114.60 during Thursday morning trading, sliding roughly 6% during the session. At that valuation, the 848,932 shares documented at the close of the quarter would equal approximately $97 million, falling short of the $131.3 million price tag noted on the 13F.
Bitcoin hovered near $71,300 on Thursday morning, remaining beneath the $72,000 threshold after dropping past that mark earlier in the trading day. This market shift is absent from the regulatory document, which concludes its tracking on September 30.
Institutional asset managers exercising investment oversight over $100 million or more in 13F-reportable securities are granted a 45-day window following the quarter’s end to publicize those positions. That timeframe extended to Saturday, November 14, shifting the final submission deadline to Monday, November 16. Wells Fargo, Millennium Management, and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors had not surfaced within the SEC’s EDGAR repository as of Thursday morning.
The disclosure fails to reflect any portfolio adjustments JPMorgan executed after September 30, during the period when cryptocurrency valuations declined and MSCI announced the removal of Strategy. The historical record preserved by the filing stands at 848,932 Strategy shares—marking a 36% increase—alongside nearly $540 million allocated to IBIT.
Originally published at https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/jpmorgan-lifts-strategy-mstr-stake-36.
