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Is this Trump’s most glaring second-term graft?

Is This Trump’s Most Glaring Second-Term Graft?
Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Truth Social could soon make millions off Trump’s posts by selling them to Wall Street before the public sees them.

President Trump has had a problem in his second term: His social-media app, Truth Social, allows high-frequency traders on Wall Street to cash in when he makes announcements that move markets. But Truth Social, which makes a pittance in ad revenue, isn’t benefiting financially from Trump’s volatile missives on tariffs or the war in Iran.

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Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, seems to have found a solution. The Financial Times reported that the company has been in talks with traders and investors for a new kind of first-look deal. These financial institutions would pay up to $100,000 per month to see Trump’s posts before the public. Fractions of a second matter for high-frequency traders, who can make more money if they get there first, and hedge funds would essentially be forced into paying the fee. “If you’re behind on that news, you’ll get crushed,” one hedge-fund executive told the FT.

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Do not sob for the hedgies. Not only can Wall Street firms afford a six-figure monthly sub but early access could net them hundreds of thousands on major trades using the information, per CNBC. And in his second term, Trump has proven time and again that his Truth Social posts can move the market or individual stocks: United States Steel, Intel, etc.

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Would it be the best move for a president who has been accused of using his station to enrich himself and his family to the tune of billions? Perhaps not. Already Senator Elizabeth Warren called this Truth Social data-licensing plan an “egregious scheme to profit off the presidency and enrich Wall Street while doing nothing to help Americans.”

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Would it be the best move for the majority owner of Truth Social? Absolutely. Trump owns nearly 65 percent of the company, and though its market value hovers around $2.6 billion, its basic finances are a mess: $871,200 in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, for a net loss of $405.9 million. It is on track to lose over $1 billion this year. Monetizing Trump’s announcements could slow some of that hemorrhaging, even if it isn’t necessarily going to bring in new users.

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There could be a wrinkle in this free-money scheme, however. Trump has posted so much about the Iran war that some traders say his Truth Social messages no longer have an effect. Axios and the FT report that bond analysts at JPMorgan believe Trump’s ability to move the bond market by posting has “decayed” since the war began.

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