Strive added 2,500 bitcoin to its holdings this week, pushing its total stash to 19,000 BTC. The purchase came a day after the entity known as 'Strategy' turned seller — a timing that caught some market watchers’ attention. Separately, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer initiated coverage of Strive’s stock (ticker: ASST) with a Buy rating and a $32 price target. Shares still dropped about 4% in pre-market trading.
The latest bitcoin buy
The 2,500 BTC addition brings Strive’s war chest to 19,000 coins. That’s a sizable hoard by any measure. The move landed just one day after 'Strategy' — a firm with a history of large-scale crypto moves — flipped from buyer to seller. The facts don’t say whether Strive scooped up coins directly from that sale or stepped in more generally, but the back-to-back timing is notable.
Strive hasn’t publicly detailed its buying strategy. But the company has been steadily stacking bitcoin for months, and this latest order keeps the buildup going.
Wall Street takes a side
Benchmark’s Mark Palmer is the first sell-side analyst to formally cover ASST, and he came out swinging. His Buy rating and $32 target suggest he sees substantial upside in the stock. Palmer’s call lands at a time when institutional interest in bitcoin-exposed equities is running hot — but the pre-market reaction tells a different story.
ASST shares traded down about 4% in the pre-market session. That could reflect profit-taking after a recent run-up, or simply the market digesting the bitcoin addition and the analyst note at the same time.
What the stock slide means
Investors knocked about 4% off ASST’s price before the bell, even with a fresh Buy rating in hand. The disconnect isn’t unusual in crypto-correlated stocks — short-term moves often defy analyst calls. Palmer’s $32 target implies roughly 20% upside from the pre-market level, so the bull case remains intact on paper.
With 19,000 bitcoin on its books, Strive has locked in a big chunk of its valuation to the price of bitcoin. That makes the stock a leveraged bet on crypto. The next real test will come when Strive reports its quarterly holdings update — and whether it adds to the pile again.
