President Donald Trump's social media posts have a track record of moving financial markets. A single post in April about pausing tariffs sent major stock indexes shooting higher on the same day.
Now Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, is building a way to profit from that speed. The company plans to launch a data feed called Truth API on August 1 that gives paying clients faster access to posts from Trump and nine other accounts on the platform.
Trump Media says it has already signed up customers but has not named them.
Who Will Pay and Why
High-frequency trading firms are the most probable subscribers for this service. These companies generate profits by reacting to market-moving information fractions of a second before anyone else. When a post from a top Truth Social account can send stocks soaring or sinking, getting that post even a few milliseconds earlier is worth a lot.
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The feed covers 10 accounts total. In addition to Trump himself, the list includes two of his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, plus prominent supporters like Dan Bongino and Sean Hannity. All of them have large followings and posts that can quickly influence sentiment.
Trump Media is also looking for new revenue. The company's stock, which trades under the ticker DJT, has dropped roughly 27% this year. On the most recent Friday it closed at $9.66, which values the company at $2.7 billion.
Approximately 114.75 million shares, or about 41% of total outstanding stock, are held by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, making Trump the largest shareholder and beneficiary. Trump reported $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures in his most recent financial disclosure. The Truth API feed is another potential source of cash.
Criticism and Ethics Debate
The plan has drawn sharp criticism. Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon who serves on the Finance Committee, argued the deal enriches the Trump family and gives profits to Wall Street traders. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called it "an egregious scheme to profit off the presidency and enrich Wall Street while doing nothing to help Americans." Donald Sherman, the head of the nonpartisan watchdog group CREW, described the plan as "wildly unethical." He also noted that Congress and regulators likely never anticipated this kind of paid access arrangement involving a president whose posts move markets.
The controversy has reignited broader questions about whether policymakers need to craft new rules to prevent presidents from monetizing market-moving communications. Existing insider-trading laws and constitutional emoluments clauses, legal experts say, probably do not apply here.
The White House directed questions about the criticism to Trump Media.
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