MicroStrategy remains in the MSCI index, MSTR surges nearly 7% after hours

MSCI Index Company announced yesterday that it will not temporarily remove “Digital Asset Treasuries” (DATs) holding large amounts of Bitcoin from its global investable market indices. This decision directly alleviated the crisis faced by companies like MicroStrategy (Strategy), which are experiencing hundreds of billions of dollars in passive fund outflows, and caused MSTR’s stock price to surge nearly 7% after hours.

MSCI Decides to Keep DATs like MicroStrategy in the Index

One of the world’s largest index providers, MSCI, launched a consultation last October aimed at excluding digital asset finance companies (DAT) such as MicroStrategy, MARA Holdings, and Riot Platforms from the index, because DATs may exhibit characteristics similar to investment funds and do not meet MSCI index eligibility criteria. MSCI recommended excluding companies with cryptocurrency holdings exceeding 50% of their total assets from the MSCI Global Investable Market Index.

(JPMorgan: MSCI Index Might Remove MicroStrategy, Potentially Triggering Nearly $10 Billion in Capital Outflows)

MSCI announced early on January 6th that, after extensive consultation with global institutional investors, it would temporarily refrain from implementing the exclusion clause for digital asset companies. Feedback from the investment community indicates there are still disagreements on how to define the boundary between “operating companies” and “investment vehicles.” Therefore, MSCI chose to maintain the status quo.

However, the announcement also mentioned that MSCI will continue to monitor market developments and may conduct a broader review of the definition of “investment entities” in the future. This means that although specific provisions regarding “digital assets” are temporarily on hold, MSCI still reserves the right to adjust its weights through amendments to broader rules.

MSTR Stock Price Surges Nearly 7% After Hours

Inspired by this news, MSTR’s stock price surged nearly 7% after hours, reversing recent downward trends.

Since many global ETFs and retirement funds track MSCI indices for automated allocation, the removal of a company from the index would trigger large-scale forced selling. Conversely, remaining eligible means MicroStrategy can continue to benefit from index fund buying support. Staying within the index ensures the stock enjoys higher market liquidity and reduces isolated risks caused by volatility in a single asset class (Bitcoin).

This article, “MicroStrategy Remains in MSCI Index, MSTR Surges Nearly 7% After Hours,” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.