MSCI will remove Strategy (MSTR) from its USA, World, and All Country World (ACWI) indexes following the conclusion of its November 2026 index review, a decision that necessitates the liquidation of affected equity holdings by the close of trading on November 30. The exclusion follows the formal adoption of a new methodology by the index provider on October 15, which screens for non-operating issuers that lack substantive business assets. Beyond Strategy, the review resulted in the removal of Metaplanet from the MSCI Japan Small Cap Index, Yellow Cake from the MSCI United Kingdom Small Cap Index, Skel Fjárfestingafélag from the MSCI Iceland Frontier Markets Small Cap Index, and Upexi from the MSCI USA Micro Cap Index.
Why is Strategy being excluded from the indexes?
The removal of Strategy stems from an internal structural assessment performed by MSCI to identify companies with minimal operating activity. According to the revised policy, firms must demonstrate that their operating assets constitute at least 50% of their total balance sheet. Issuers failing this primary threshold are then subjected to five specific financial ratio tests. A designation as an ineligible entity occurs if a firm fails four or more of these criteria. Strategy, which has become a significant corporate holder of bitcoin, was flagged under these updated screens. While the criteria do not explicitly name cryptocurrency, the firm’s classification as a non-operating issuer led to its removal after the index provider confirmed it failed to meet the necessary eligibility standards in its most recent filing periods.
Strategy held 850,364 bitcoin as of November 8, acquired at an average price of $75,456 per coin, bringing its aggregate investment to approximately $64.16 billion.
What is the projected financial impact of the index removal?
Estimates regarding the scale of forced selling vary significantly, though market focus remains centered on the potential for passive fund outflows. Previous analysis by JPMorgan, cited by multiple outlets, suggested that index exclusion could trigger as much as $2.8 billion in passive selling pressure. However, Strategy has offered a more modest perspective on the impact to its liquidity, stating that passive funds tracking the MSCI indexes currently hold roughly 13 million shares. Based on the closing share price of $122.35 on November 11, the company values this portion at approximately $1.59 billion, or about 3.1% of its outstanding basic shares. The firm has characterized the exclusion as a development with limited long-term impact on its operations, despite earlier concerns that such a move could disrupt its equity financing strategies.
What happens next for the affected companies?
The transition process for MSCI-tracked funds is scheduled for completion after the markets close on November 30. The index provider noted that it will no longer maintain the interim measures previously applied to these stocks, such as freezes on share-count adjustments or deferred additions, which had been in place since October 2025. While Strategy has expressed dissatisfaction with the new rule, labeling the approach as misguided in discussions reported by industry media, MSCI has signaled no intent to reverse the methodology. The immediate future for the stock will be defined by how the market absorbs the supply of shares from institutional trackers through the end of the month. It remains unclear if other major index providers will adopt similar non-operating entity screens, as previous industry speculation had projected a much larger potential impact of up to $8.8 billion if other benchmarks followed suit. As of the latest update, no official figures have been released by MSCI regarding the exact volume of shares expected to be traded during the rebalancing process.
Sources: This report draws on coverage by Bitcoin Magazine, KuCoin, Reuters, Bloomberg.com, FXStreet, Yahoo Finance, Cointelegraph, The Block. The wording is our own.
Market Snapshot
| Asset | Price | 24h | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin BTC | $73,481 | -0.36% | $1477.8B |
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 BNB BNB | $673.59 | -0.99% | $88.6B |
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 Dogecoin DOGE | $0.0669 | -1.80% | $10.5B |
 Cardano ADA | $0.172 | -1.57% | $6.5B |
Live data: CoinGecko — 2026-11-12 05:21 UTC
