ASST stock has seen a rise following a merger with Strive Asset Management, forming a Bitcoin-focused asset-management firm. A $750 million private investment is dedicated to Bitcoin acquisition, with short interest adding to the positive trend.
The merger aims to create the first public asset-management firm with a Bitcoin treasury strategy, leading to speculation and a price increase. This development was announced by GlobeNewswire, causing renewed market interest.
A $750 million private placement is priced at $1.35 per share. If warrants are exercised, it may expand to $1.5 billion, focusing on Bitcoin acquisition and boosting market confidence.
In July, an amended merger agreement renewed interest and buying activity. This legal update attracted attention from traders, according to Benzinga’s coverage.
ASST’s public float is around 14.9 million shares, with short interest at 31%. This situation often leads to short squeezes, where buyers force shorts to cover quickly, causing rapid price swings. MarketBeat provides these figures.
An analyst’s rating upgrade to “Hold” further enhanced the stock’s momentum, as noted by MarketBeat. InvestingLive.com advises watching for a price move above $4.80 for continued bullish momentum.
Given the intense speculation around the ASST merger, we see that implied volatility in its options has surged. This makes buying options expensive but also signals the market’s expectation of a massive price swing in the coming weeks. Traders should therefore be positioning for significant movement rather than sideways action.
For those with a bullish outlook, buying call options with strike prices just above the key $4.80 resistance level appears to be the popular play. We have observed a significant increase in open interest for the September and October $5 and $7.50 calls, suggesting traders are betting the merger hype and Bitcoin accumulation will push the stock much higher. This strategy offers leveraged upside if the stock breaks out as anticipated.
The short squeeze potential here is immense and should not be underestimated. With recent data showing short interest has ticked up to nearly 33% of the public float, the conditions are ripe for an explosive rally on any further positive news. This situation draws parallels to the massive short squeezes we witnessed back in 2021, where forced buying from short sellers created parabolic price moves.
This bullish sentiment is further supported by the broader cryptocurrency market’s performance. Bitcoin has shown renewed strength over the past month, stabilizing above the crucial $95,000 mark after its brief dip in early July 2025. A strong Bitcoin price provides a direct tailwind for ASST’s planned treasury strategy, making the narrative more compelling for new investors.
Alternatively, traders who believe this rally is overextended could consider buying put options. If the merger faces a delay or the price fails to break and hold above $4.80, the high implied volatility will collapse, and the stock could retreat sharply. Puts provide a defined-risk way to profit from such a downturn or to hedge an existing long position.
A more neutral strategy would be to play the volatility itself by purchasing a straddle, which involves buying both a call and a put option at the same strike price. This position profits from a large price move in either direction, which is highly probable given the circumstances. However, because of the high option premiums, the stock must move significantly just for this trade to become profitable.
