Markets · Indexes
MSCI Adopts Screen That Could Push Strategy Out of Its Global Indexes
MSCI will treat non-operating companies as ineligible for its global benchmarks from the November review. MSCI's current list of potentially affected members shows Strategy as a deletion, but the final list is not due until Nov. 11.
MSCI said Thursday it will classify non-operating companies as ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes, a change that could push Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, out of benchmarks such as the MSCI ACWI (source 1). The index provider said it will implement the proposal from its Aug. 3 consultation "with minor modifications," as part of the November 2026 Index Review, which takes effect "as of the close of November 30, 2026" (source 1).
MSCI's decision text does not name Strategy or any other company, but its list of current members that could be affected, based on financial information as of Sept. 30, 2026, shows Strategy as a potential deletion in the November review, along with Yellow Cake, Metaplanet, Skel fjarfestingafelag and Upexi (source 3). MSCI's August consultation document had said applying the proposed screen to the MSCI ACWI IMI "as of May 2026, would result in three deletions," with Strategy the largest of them (source 2). Japan's Metaplanet was also on that simulated list (source 2). MSCI says the final list of affected companies will be published on Nov. 11, 2026, with its November index review announcement (source 1). Until then, Strategy's removal is potential, not final.
How the screen works
MSCI says ineligible companies will be found in two steps (source 1). First, a core screen asks whether an issuer is "a company with substantial operating assets." Issuers that fail then face an exclusion screen of five financial ratios, and a security is ineligible "if it is flagged on four or more of the five ratios" (source 1). The thresholds are in an appendix to MSCI's index methodology (source 1).
Existing index members get a buffer. "Current constituents will be removed only if they fail the ineligibility screen in each of the two most recent annual filing periods," MSCI says, while companies outside the index are ineligible for addition if they fail in either of their two latest annual periods (source 1). MSCI adds that it "may also use the most recent interim filing if available" (source 1). It does not say which filings it will apply to any one company.
| Item | What MSCI says |
|---|---|
| Decision | Non-operating companies ineligible for Global Investable Market Indexes (source 1) |
| Announced | Oct. 15, 2026, 4:48 p.m. ET (source 1) |
| Final affected list | Nov. 11, 2026 (source 1) |
| Effective | Close of Nov. 30, 2026 (source 1) |
| Test | Core operating-asset screen, then five ratios; ineligible if flagged on four or more (source 1) |
| Buffer for members | Removed only if they fail in each of the two latest annual filing periods (source 1) |
| Digital-asset freeze | Discontinued with the November review (source 1) |
| Companies named | None in the decision; Strategy is a potential deletion on MSCI's current list (source 3) |
The digital-asset freeze ends
The decision also ends the stopgap MSCI applied to bitcoin-treasury companies. MSCI says it will discontinue "the interim measures announced on October 10, 2025 in respect of the preliminary list of companies whose digital asset holdings represented 50% or more of total assets" (source 1). Those measures froze increases in share counts and inclusion factors and deferred additions and size-segment moves for those securities (source 1). Oct. 10, 2025 is the date MSCI extended its digital-asset treasury consultation and proposed the 50% threshold; the freeze itself was set out in MSCI's Jan. 6, 2026 consultation results (source 4). "Going forward, eligibility for all such companies will be assessed under the methodology described above," MSCI says (source 1).
That means every company on the earlier 50%-plus list will be judged by the new screen, effective at the close on Nov. 30, rather than held in place.
What it means
In Le Coin's view, the key date is Nov. 11, not today. The decision sets the rule, but only the November list will show whether Strategy's filings fail the screen under the two-period buffer, and MSCI's current list is labeled potential.
In Le Coin's view, ending the freeze cuts both ways for treasury companies. Those that pass the operating-asset test regain normal treatment for share increases and additions, while those that fail lose a place they had been allowed to keep.
Sources
- MSCI, "MSCI Announces Results of the Consultation on the Eligibility of Non-Operating Companies in the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes," announcement, Oct. 15, 2026, 4:48 p.m. ET, accessed 2026-10-15, 5:16 p.m. ET.
- MSCI, "Consultation on Eligibility of Non-Operating Companies for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes," consultation document, August 2026, accessed 2026-10-15, 5:16 p.m. ET.
- MSCI, "List of MSCI GIMI Securities Potentially Impacted by the Non-Operating Companies Methodology," financial information as of Sept. 30, 2026, accessed 2026-10-16, 12:03 p.m. ET.
- MSCI, "MSCI Announces Results of the Consultation on the Treatment of Digital Asset Treasury Companies," announcement, Jan. 6, 2026, 4:10 p.m. ET, accessed 2026-10-15, 5:16 p.m. ET.
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