Index provider MSCI has confirmed that Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, will be removed from its global equity indexes at the end of November, in a decision that could force index-tracking funds to sell billions of dollars of the company's shares.

MSCI published the results of its November index review on 11 November 2026. Its final list of affected securities marks "STRATEGY A" for deletion from the MSCI USA Index, with the change taking effect after the market close on 30 November. Reports of the review also place the company outside the MSCI World and ACWI indexes.

Strategy shares closed 1.06% higher at $122.35 in regular trading on 11 November, before MSCI released its decision. The shares then fell 1.65% in after-hours trading, according to CoinTelegraph, while KuCoin reported a 1.51% after-hours fall to $120.50.

Why MSCI is removing Strategy

The removal is the first under MSCI's new rules for what it calls non-operating companies, finalised on 15 October. Under the rules, issuers that lack substantial operating assets must pass five financial ratio tests. A company that fails four or more of them loses its index eligibility.

Strategy's balance sheet is dominated by its bitcoin holdings rather than by an operating business. The company held 850,364 bitcoin as of 8 November, bought at a total cost of $64.16 billion, or an average price of $75,456 per coin. With bitcoin trading near $73,700 on 12 November, that holding was worth less than the company paid for it.

Strategy argued during MSCI's consultation that the proposal repackaged an earlier effort to exclude digital asset treasury companies and brought policy judgements into index construction. It also said it reports its bitcoin business as an operating segment under US accounting standards. MSCI went ahead with the removal anyway.

Other companies caught by the same screen

Strategy was not the only casualty. Japan's Metaplanet, another bitcoin treasury company, and Upexi, a US crypto treasury firm, were also marked for deletion. Ether treasury firm SharpLink was placed on a watchlist rather than removed outright.

Yellow Cake, a UK company that holds physical uranium, was removed from the UK small-cap index under the same screen. In total, MSCI's November review for the ACWI Index contained 13 additions and 100 deletions, although Strategy accounted for more than 90% of the market value affected by the non-operating company screen.

How much selling could follow

The practical question for investors is how many shares index funds will have to sell before the 30 November deadline. JPMorgan has estimated that the exclusion could trigger about $2.8 billion of passive selling.

Strategy itself put the figure lower. In its response to MSCI's consultation, the company estimated that funds tracking the affected indexes held about 13 million of its shares, or 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding. At the 11 November closing price of $122.35, that holding would be worth about $1.59 billion. The company also noted that the figure was less than a single day's trading volume in its shares.

The removal changes which benchmark funds are allowed to hold the stock. It does not affect Strategy's Nasdaq listing, and it does not require the company to sell any of its bitcoin. The 850,364 coins on its balance sheet are not part of the index transaction.

A decision Strategy had already expected

The outcome was not a surprise to the company. Strategy said in its quarterly filing in late October that it expected its Class A shares to be excluded from the MSCI indexes as part of the review. Even so, confirmation of the decision removes the last uncertainty and starts a countdown: index funds must complete their rebalancing by the close of trading on 30 November, with the rebalanced indexes taking effect on 1 December.

The episode also matters beyond one company. MSCI's new screen sets a precedent for other firms whose balance sheets are dominated by a treasury asset, whether bitcoin, ether or uranium, rather than by an operating business. Nineteen further companies sit on a watchlist under the same rules, and their investors will now be watching the next review closely.

For Strategy, the immediate test is whether the forced selling from index funds pushes the shares further below the value of the bitcoin they represent, or whether active buyers step in before the 30 November deadline.