The Kansas wealth manager also more than doubled its Strategy stake, though crypto remains a sliver of its $178.7 billion book
Creative Planning, the wealth management firm based in Overland Park, Kansas, increased its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund holdings by 43% in the third quarter of 2026. It also more than doubled its position in Strategy Inc., the company formerly known as MicroStrategy.
The disclosures came in the firm’s Q3 2026 13F filing, reported on November 2, 2026.
What Creative Planning actually bought
A 13F is a quarterly snapshot. Large investment managers use it to show regulators, and everyone else, what stocks and funds they held at the end of a quarter.
Creative Planning’s latest snapshot is a big one. The firm’s portfolio was valued at approximately $178.7 billion, spread across 4,405 separate positions.
That total rose 4.5% from the prior quarter. So the crypto additions happened inside a portfolio that was also growing overall.
On the Bitcoin side, the firm boosted its exposure to Bitcoin-related ETFs by 43% during the quarter. Those funds notably include the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which trades under the ticker GBTC, and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, ticker ARKB.
The Strategy move is arguably the more aggressive one. Creative Planning more than doubled its stake in the company, bringing its holding to 76,807 shares of MSTR.
Strategy is best known as a corporate Bitcoin buyer. It is a company that holds Bitcoin as a treasury asset, so owning its stock is a different kind of bet than owning a spot ETF.
Still a rounding error, relatively speaking
The firm’s largest holding is the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), at roughly 10.8% of the portfolio. Second is the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND), at about 5.5%.
Bitcoin-related positions, by contrast, make up a small percentage of the overall portfolio’s value.
The research on the filing characterizes the firm’s approach as cautious. The overall portfolio remains dominated by traditional equities and broad-market ETFs.
A shifting relationship with Strategy
This is not the first time Creative Planning has adjusted its Strategy exposure. Historical filing data shows the firm’s position in the company has varied considerably over recent quarters.
The combination of moves is also worth noting. Creative Planning did not just add one type of Bitcoin exposure. It added to spot-style ETF products and to a treasury company stock in the same quarter.
What this means for institutional Bitcoin adoption
The research on the filing suggests these moves could indicate growing acceptance of Bitcoin-related investments among large wealth management firms. The firm may be positioning itself to capitalize on continued institutional interest in crypto as an asset class.
13F filings are backward-looking, showing holdings as of quarter-end, so they reveal what a firm did rather than what it will do next.
The product mix is another thing to watch. Holding both GBTC and ARKB alongside Strategy stock shows that institutions are not treating Bitcoin exposure as a single choice.
