ETF Feasts on MSTR’s Carnage, Hits Record Highs

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Markets

What to know:

  • The GraniteShares 2x Short MSTR Daily ETF, a financial leviathan with the charm of a tax audit, has ascended to stratospheric heights, rewarding those who bet against MSTR like a gluttonous feast at a funeral.
  • Strategy, that poor beleaguered stock, has plummeted to levels last seen in September 2024, its descent so steep it makes a black hole seem polite.

There’s always a bull market somewhere-or perhaps a bear market, depending on which side of the ledger you’ve been scribbling.

While MSTR and its crypto-adjacent brethren wallow in despair, GraniteShares’ MSDD ETF has pirouetted in the opposite direction, doubling daily losses with the glee of a child stomping on a piñata. This financial contraption, designed to deliver -200% of MSTR’s daily performance, has become the glittering jewel in the crown of short-sellers.

Launched on January 10, 2025, MSDD is the sort of product that makes one wonder if the architects of finance moonlight as masochists. A “high-risk short-term tactical tool,” it promises to turn your tears into dividends-or at least a very nice spreadsheet.

On Tuesday, MSDD hit a record high of $114, a 13.5% annual gain, extending its 275% rise over the past year. One might call it a triumph, or perhaps a masterclass in exploiting chaos.

Its lesser-known cousin, SMST, also danced to a 11-month high of $113, a performance that would make even a Wall Street ballerina envious.

In other words, MSTR bears have been handed a golden platter of profits, while the rest of us sip lukewarm coffee and ponder the meaning of it all.

MSTR itself has tumbled to $126, a nadir last witnessed in September 2024. From its peak of $543 in November 2023, it now languishes down 76%, a fall so steep it could qualify for a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As the world’s largest publicly listed bitcoin vault, holding 713,502 BTC ($54.24 billion), MSTR’s fate is inextricably tied to the mercurial whims of Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency, now trading at $76,000 after a brief flirtation with $73,000, has found temporary solace in a U.S. funding package that spared the nation from the grim specter of government shutdown.

All in all, a tale of two markets: one a symphony of despair, the other a carnivalesque parade of gains. Welcome to the ballet of finance.

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2026-02-04 09:52