ChainCatcher message, Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick pointed out last week that MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor's strategy is to issue convertible bonds and use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin, which is essentially the definition of leveraged trading—borrowing money to buy financial assets.
This approach works very well when the asset's price moves in your favor, and Bitcoin has performed quite well. But if it moves in the opposite direction, this approach can collapse in a nasty way. Steve Sosnick emphasized that MicroStrategy benefits from a 'self-fulfilling feedback loop.'
It bought more Bitcoin, helping to drive up the price, and then sold more debt and stock to buy more Bitcoin, further driving up the price. But such things never last forever and often end badly—the question is when? The short-term answer seems to be not yet.
