MSCI has made its decision. The index provider published the conclusions of its consultation on “non-operating companies” on the evening of 15 October, reports Journal du Coin. The new filter will apply from the November index review. Strategy and Metaplanet, two companies whose balance sheets are dominated by bitcoin, were already among the candidates for removal in the simulation published this summer. The final list of affected companies will, however, only be known on 11 November.

An MSCI index, automatic buyers

A stock index is a list of shares weighted by their capitalisation. MSCI is one of the three major providers, alongside FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones. Its flagship index, the MSCI ACWI IMI, covers around 99% of the investable capitalisation of 47 countries, according to Journal du Coin.

Index funds and ETFs that replicate an index do not pick their stocks: they buy what the list contains, in the same proportions. Entering an index therefore brings a flow of mechanical buyers. Leaving it does the opposite: these funds must sell their position before the removal date.

The criterion: four flags out of five

The filter does not mention bitcoin. It targets any listed company whose real activity consists of holding assets rather than operating them. The test takes place in two stages. First, MSCI measures operating assets (factories, software, inventories, trade receivables). If they exceed 50% of the balance sheet, the company remains eligible.

Otherwise, five ratios, identical for all sectors, are calculated:

  • operating assets below 20% of the balance sheet;
  • operating expenses below 5%;
  • negative operating cash flow;
  • earnings dominated by changes in the fair value of non-operating assets;
  • dependence on capital raising above 20% of the balance sheet.

Four flags out of five, and the company becomes ineligible, MSCI states in its announcement of 15 October. The thresholds are those of the August proposal, with minor adjustments. An existing constituent is only removed if it fails the test over its last two annual financial years, with raised thresholds; MSCI also reserves the right to use the latest available quarterly report.

According to Journal du Coin, Strategy holds more than 848,000 BTC, and its software business, around 500 million dollars in annual revenue according to Michael Saylor, carries little weight against that stock. MSCI’s simulation based on May 2026 data resulted in three removals from the MSCI ACWI IMI: Strategy (23.9 billion dollars in adjusted capitalisation), Yellow Cake, a uranium vehicle, and Metaplanet. SharpLink, an Ethereum treasury company, was on the watch list. This is a simulation: only the 11 November list will be authoritative.

Timetable and forced ETF selling

The final list will be published on 11 November, together with the announcement of the November 2026 index review. The removal will take effect at the close of 30 November. Passive managers generally concentrate their selling on the closing session of the last day.

The scale of that selling remains uncertain. In a letter dated 31 August, Michael Saylor and Phong Le stated that funds tracking MSCI indices held around 13 million Strategy shares, or 3.1% of the capital. JPMorgan’s estimate of 2.8 billion dollars in selling of MSTR, recalled by Cointelegraph, dated from the 2025 consultation and covered a different scope. No analyst has yet put a figure on the adopted version, according to Journal du Coin. JPMorgan mentioned up to 8.8 billion dollars if FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones adopted a comparable filter, which is not a given.

The text also ends the freeze decided on 10 October 2025: for a year, MSCI had frozen the number of shares taken into account for companies holding at least 50% in digital assets. Passive funds were therefore already no longer following Strategy’s new issuances.

What this changes for a fund that replicates the index

For an ETF or an index management mandate that replicates an MSCI index, in Switzerland as elsewhere, the mechanism is the same: on the effective date, the removed stock disappears from the index, the fund sells it and redistributes the amount across the other constituents. The sources consulted do not quantify the exposure of Swiss funds or pension institutions to Strategy or Metaplanet. The weight of these stocks in such a broad index is by construction limited, but no published data makes it possible to quantify it here. This article does not constitute investment advice.

Strategy had not reacted by Friday morning. In August, the company called the consultation “discriminatory, arbitrary and misguided” and asked that the rule apply only to accounts published after its adoption, which MSCI did not accept. Metaplanet had not published anything either.

Sources

  • Journal du Coin: “Bitcoin : MSCI adopte la règle qui éjecte Strategy et Metaplanet de ses indices”