MSCI non-operating rule puts Strategy on index notice

The MSCI non-operating rule announced on Thursday makes companies with mainly non-operating assets ineligible for the index provider's Global Investable Market Indexes, adopting an August proposal with minor changes. It takes effect with the November 2026 index review at the close of Nov. 30, and the final list of affected constituents is due Nov. 11. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, has been flagged as a likely deletion.

What happened

In its announcement, MSCI said issuers first face a core screen for substantial operating assets, and those that fail are tested on five financial ratios, with a security flagged on four or more ruled ineligible. Current constituents will be removed only if they fail in each of their two most recent annual filing periods, while non-constituents cannot be added if they fail in either. MSCI may also use the latest interim filing.

Cointelegraph reported that Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi were previously identified for deletion under the methodology, while SharpLink, TON Strategy, Solana Company and DeFi Development Corp. sit on a watchlist. MSCI is also scrapping interim measures announced on Oct. 10, 2025, which froze share-count and inclusion-factor increases for companies whose digital assets made up 50% or more of total assets.

Strategy has fought the change. In a September letter it said the proposal would have no meaningful impact on its business but would profoundly harm MSCI's reputation as a neutral index provider, and its executives have called the approach discriminatory against digital asset treasuries, The Block reported.

Why it matters

Index removal forces passive funds tracking MSCI benchmarks to sell, which is why the MSCI non-operating rule matters beyond a single company. JPMorgan analysts once estimated that a Strategy exclusion could trigger roughly $2.8 billion of selling, although that figure related to an earlier version of the proposal, Cointelegraph noted.

Strategy has argued the mechanical impact is modest. In August it said funds tracking the affected MSCI indexes held about 13 million of its shares, or 3.1% of basic shares outstanding, less than one day's trading volume. The broader question is whether other index providers adopt similar screens, which would shrink passive demand for the treasury-company model.

The decision lands while Strategy keeps buying, most recently with a 250-bitcoin purchase that lifted its holdings to 848,250 BTC. Ether-focused treasuries face the same screens, which puts firms such as BitMine and its growing ETH stack on the radar too.

What's next

Nov. 11 is the date to watch, when MSCI publishes the final list as part of its November index review announcement. Removals would take effect after the close on Nov. 30, giving tracking funds a short window to rebalance.

Polymarket runs a contract on whether the MSCI non-operating rule ends with Strategy removed from the MSCI World or MSCI USA index by Dec. 31, and liquidity in it is thin. Under its rules, an official MSCI announcement of removal is enough to settle the market.

The call

Polymarket prices "Microstrategy delisted from MSCI index by December 31?" near 91% Yes as of this batch's odds fetch. We call Yes: Strategy will be removed from the MSCI World or MSCI USA index by December 31, 2026. MSCI had already identified the company for deletion under this methodology, and the final rule kept the screens with only minor changes. This is a dated record call, not investment advice.