On December 18, news broke that Vance Spencer, co-founder of Framework Ventures, stated on the X platform that MicroStrategy (MSTR) may not sell shares or issue new convertible bonds through an ATM to fund Bitcoin purchases in January next year. If Spencer's claim is true, this could raise concerns for some long-term MicroStrategy shareholders who have been anticipating the company to purchase Bitcoin weekly. Researchers speculate that the so-called prohibition on issuing new convertible bonds is related to insider trading rules. Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not prohibit insiders from trading during the earnings season and the earnings announcement period (assuming all other disclosures are current), many companies set their own internal trading blackout periods as a Wall Street practice. These internal trading blackout periods typically last from two weeks to a month, with most companies allowing internal trading again within two days after the quarterly earnings announcement. These self-imposed quiet periods help companies avoid suspicion that their employees are profiting from undisclosed information. Some speculate that the internal trading blackout period is actually unrelated to insider trading rules but rather related to the committee's recommendations following MicroStrategy's inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 index on December 23. In any case, MicroStrategy has scheduled its earnings announcement between February 3 and 5, 2025. Some believe that the internal trading blackout period will last throughout January or for 30 days before the earnings call; others believe it will start on January 14, while some even question whether any internal trading blackout period exists.

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