80% of corporate owners now under water

About 80% of corporate Bitcoin holders are sitting on windfall losses because BTC is well below the average stock purchase price.

According to the analysis of Charles Edwards, the founder of Capriole Investments, about 80% of companies that hold Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury asset are sitting on sudden losses.

The data comes as BTC bounces back to $71,000, raising questions about whether widespread institutional pain is a warning sign or a contrarian buy signal.

The numbers behind the corporate pain

Edwards shared a series of charts on X on March 10 that show the average value of Bitcoin’s treasury holdings is around $90,000, well above where BTC is trading today.

On a weighted basis, which gives more weight to larger holders like Strategy, the average purchase price fell to about $81,000, indicating that the biggest buyers came in earlier and at lower levels. But in any case, the number one cryptocurrency is currently below both numbers.

“At 80%, almost all funds today are losing from buying Bitcoin,” Edwards wrote. “Though history shows it could get worse if 2026 is like 2022. There is no free Bitcoin harvest.”

In the same thread, Edwards noted that institutions are also broadly down on their BTC positions, with the average institutional purchase price close to $78,000. He also said ETF holders were also in the red.

However, the analyst noted one piece of data that stood out, namely that the purchase of Treasuries and ETFs gained 200% on the day of his post.

“When it was that high, bitcoin hit $90,000,” he said, calling it “very good news, especially in times of war.”

The appetite that Edwards had in mind was illustrated by Strategy, which yesterday announced the purchase of 17,994 BTC at an average price of about $71,000 per BTC, bringing its total assets to 738,731 BTC purchased for $56 billion. At current prices, the company’s position has a windfall in the region of $6 billion.

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Separately, Strategy Permanent Preferred Shares posted a new 2026 trading volume of $299 million on March 9, which BitcoinTreasuries estimated was enough to fund another 1,360 BTC purchase.

The broader supply picture adds context to why institutional accumulation is attracting attention, with analyst Darkfost noting that Bitcoin reserves on centralized exchanges have reached the highest levels seen in 2019.

In addition, ETFs have held approximately 1.3 million BTC as of January 2024, while corporate treasury firms collectively hold approximately 1.1 million BTC, representing approximately 5% of the total supply.

Bitcoin price overview

Bitcoin was trading near $71,000 at the time of writing, up more than 4% in 24 hours after peaking at around $67,500. In the past seven days, the asset has gained 6.4% and has almost doubled over the past 14 days. However, it remains at an all-time low of about 13% year-on-year and about 44% below October 2025.