Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this report owns shares of Strategy (MSTR).

Strategy’s (MSTR) perpetual preferred stock, STRK, achieved the largest proceeds from its weekly at-the-market (ATM) issuance since the program started in February, according to X account DogCandles, raising $59.7 million that was used to buy more bitcoin BTC, according to a Monday SEC filing.

That amount corresponds to the issuance of approximately 621,555 STRK shares. Strategy has about $20.79 billion still available in the STRK ATM facility.

The company led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor is plowing ahead with its bitcoin-buying strategy even as the price of the largest cryptocurrency holds above $100,000, with an eye on its January record of $109,000. Strategy’s Monday BTC purchase took its total holdings to 576,230 BTC.

This represents a 16.3% BTC yield, a key performance indicator (KPI) that reflects the year-to-date percentage increase in the ratio of MSTR’s bitcoin holdings to its assumed diluted shares outstanding, effectively measuring the growth in BTC exposure on a per-share basis.

The recent STRK issuance represents just under 9% of the total proceeds generated from the ATM program for the common stock, which has raised $705.7 million to date. This highlights the increasing role STRK is playing in Strategy’s bitcoin acquisition model.

STRK features a fixed 8% annual dividend, which is based on the $100 per share liquidation preference, resulting in an annual payout of $8.00 per share.

That gives it an effective yield, annual dividend divided by STRK share price, of 8.1%. Importantly, this yield is inversely related to the share price. As STRK trades higher, the yield decreases, and vice versa.

Since its launch on Feb. 10, STRK has risen by 16%, outperforming both bitcoin, which has added 10%, and the S&P 500, which has declined by 2% over the same period.

According to data from the Strategy dashboard, STRK exhibits the lowest correlation with MSTR common stock, sitting at just 44%. In contrast, STRK maintains relatively higher correlations with broader market benchmarks: 71% with bitcoin and 72% with the SPY exchange-traded fund.

This suggests that STRK trades with a unique profile, potentially appealing to investors seeking differentiated exposure due to its hybrid nature as a preferred equity instrument with bitcoin-tied capital deployment.

Kraken is rolling out regulated crypto derivatives trading in Europe, compliant with the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

The crypto exchange’s perpetual and fixed maturity futures contracts will now be available for retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area (EEA), the firm said on Tuesday.

Permission to trade crypto derivatives came via a Cypriot investment firm called Greenfield Wealth, which Kraken acquired earlier this year, securing the exchange a license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

The crypto derivatives space has seen some significant moves lately, with big players like U.S.-listed Coinbase (COIN) acquiring leading trading platform Deribit. In Europe, exchanges such as Bitstamp and Gemini are entering the fold, while the MiFID II license held by FTX EU has been acquired by BackPack.

Kraken also made a $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader to drive derivatives trading in the U.S. As well as its European license, Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities, a U.K. FCA-regulated crypto futures platform, in 2019.

Kraken’s joined-up approach means the contracts European clients will have access to already command a relatively high volume, roughly between $1 billion and $2 billion per day, according to Shannon Kurtas, head of exchange at Kraken.

“This is not offering access to a new trading venue or new contracts,” Kurtas said in an interview. “These are existing contracts that have material volume trading on them and along with that comes established liquidity, better execution costs and fiat rails for getting collateral in and out efficiently and cheaply.”

The recent introduction of Kraken’s Embed crypto connectivity application means neobanks and fintechs in Europe can also offer derivatives, as well as spot, to their clients, Kurtas said.

Picking up licenses in smaller and arguably more nimble jurisdictions like Cyprus and Malta has become a well-trodden path for Crypto firms with deep pockets.

“More nimble is probably a fair characterization,” Kurtas said. “Also, there’s been an established set of firms, particularly in the CFD space, who traditionally have offered retail access to FX derivatives and CFDs, and so there’s kind of a nexus of individuals, firms and know-how, if you will, in the area for these products.”

Crypto traders are betting big on ether ETH in the wake of the recent rally.

Last week, block traders, typically institutions and large players, executed bull call spreads on ether, purchasing the $3,500 call options while simultaneously shorting an equal number of calls at the $6,000 strike, both set to expire on Dec. 26.

Traders executed the strategy via over-the-counter platform Paradigm, which was later listed on crypto exchange Deribit. Traders executed 30,000 contracts of the $3,500/$6,000 call spreads across 10 separate trades, spending just over $7 million in initial debt/cost.

The strategy will yield the highest profit if ether rises to or beyond $6,000 by Dec. 26. On Paradigm and Deribit, one options contract represents one ETH.

Therefore, the large volume of the $3,500/$6,000 call spreads indicates a strong expectation of a bullish move to $6,000 by the end of the year. As of writing, ether changed hands at $2,510, according to CoinDesk data.

Note that if ETH stays below $3,600, the strategy will expire worth less, limiting the loss to the initial cost of $7 million. Another downside of this strategy is that traders stand to lose out on potential upside above $6,000 due to the short position at that strike level.

Ether’s price has risen over 80% to $2,500 since early April, when the broader market panic saw ETH hit a low of around $1,390 on several exchanges.

Magadini said there is no reason to call tops in ETH right now.

«I continue to like these upside trades, especially for the beat-up Ethereum, as risk assets continue to rally. There’s a good argument for ETH «catching-up» as spot ETFs with staking rewards could be a catalyst for institutional participation and sentiment turns around. No reason to be calling tops right now,» Magadini said.