The parent company of Donald Trump’s Truth Social halted trading multiple times on Election Day.
Stock for Trump Media & Technology Group Corp — which trades under DJT — was halted for volatility on Tuesday as the former president vies to defeat Vice President Kamala Harrisat the polls.
Trump owns nearly 57 per cent of all shares in the company.
Trading was paused for a few minutes at 2.48pm, then again at 2.55pm, and once more at 3.02pm, the New York Stock Exchange shows.
Shares were trading at about $37 early on Tuesday morning when they started fluctuating throughout the day. After shares hit a high of $40 midday, they quickly plunged to $32 later in the day. It ended Tuesday down more than 1 per cent at $33.94.
Some finance experts said the turbulent market is likely not a reflection on voters’ motivations. The polls show the race is deadlocked.
“The initial rise was speculative, driven by hopes of a Trump victory,” Kevin Thompson, founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek.
But, Thompson cautioned: “This trading activity reflects less about election predictions and more about event-driven volatility…Supporters may be bidding up the stock on hopes of a Trump win, but overall, this is standard volatility around a major event. We might see a market bump if Trump wins, or a minor selloff if Harris wins.”
Others said that onlookers shouldn’t put much metaphorical stock into the Election Day volatility of the Trump majority-owned company, underscoring that it’s not unusual for this particular market to experience volatility.
Last week, days after Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, trading on DJT was halted five times. Trump Media & Technology Group suffered a 20 per cent decline in a five-day period in the last week of October, according to Yahoo Finance.
Last Wednesday alone, shares dipped by 22.3 per cent, meaning Trump lost approximately $1.3 billion of his net worth on that day alone. It marked the worst one-day loss since the company went public in March.
“Markets are very thin and skittish, DJT exceptionally so,” Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told CNN.
Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management, discouraged those from reading too much into the market’s volatility and how it could foreshadow the presidential race’s outcome. Tuttle told CNN: “It’s extremely early. I don’t think we’re seeing smart money here. We’re seeing people throwing darts at a board.”
Despite the fluctuations, as of last week, the company was valued at over $10 billion after its shares more than quadrupled since late September — meaning it was worth more than X, the social media giant owned by vocal Trump supporter Elon Musk.
