Stock in Trump's Truth Social halted for 'volatility' - after jumping 50% on stock market debut then dropping

Shares of Donald Trump's new social media company jumped as high as 59 percent as they debuted on the stock market Tuesday.

Truth Social's parent company joined the Nasdaq under the ticker DJT. Ahead of that shares had been valued at $49.50 as of Monday.

Stock intially jumped to about $78 before falling back to about $65 - all within minutes. This lead to trading in Trump Media being suspended for ten minutes due to volatily, a common move when the price is moving so fast. 

Most of the day shares in Trump Media fluctuated between $67 and $78. They dropped at the end of the day as investors banked profits, but still finished up 16.1 percent at $57.99 - giving the company a market value of $7.85 billion.

Supporters said they had bought stock to support him.

Trump holds a nearly 60 ownership stake in the company, now worth about $4.6 billion. 

Trump Media has said that it is `highly dependent on the popularity and presence´ of former president Donald Trump. His influence is thought to be pushing up the stock price

Donald Trump posted on  Truth Social after the share price of Trump Media soared as much as 50 percent. One supporter said they had bought shares to support him

Americans shared on X how they had been trading Trump Media - under the ticker DJT - on Tuesday morning

At the close, the company's market capitalization $7.85 billion - almost as much as Reddit, which listed last week after 19 years. Trump Social was formed just two years ago.

The value of Trump's majority stake will swing up or down with the share price - and at close was up around $600 million on the day. 

Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday morning: I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL, I LOVE THE TRUTH!'

Underneath, a supporter said: 'Just bought $DJT just to support you bro F**K BIDEN!!!'

Trump cannot sell the shares - or even use them as security for a loan - under  lock-up restrictions for six months.

Donald Trump's nearly 60 percent ownership stake in Trump Media has helped boost his wealth massively. 

As of Monday night it was reported to have climbed to $6.4 billion - with the two-thirds of that coming from the new company and the rest from his golf, real estate, and branding empire.. 

Trump Media has gone public by merging with a so-called special purpose acquisition company - known as Digital World Asset Corp, or DWAC.  DWAC had been trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange, but as of today Trump Media took its place.

Many of Trump Media's investors are small-timers either trying to support Mr Trump or aiming to cash in on the mania, instead of big institutional and professional investors.

How big is Truth Social? 

Trump Media has yet to disclose Truth Social's user numbers — although that should change now that the company is public.

Research firm Similarweb estimates that Truth Social had roughly 5 million active mobile and web users in February.

The figure is far below TikTok's more than 2 billion and Facebook's 3 billion — but still higher than other 'alt-tech' rivals like Parler, which has been offline for nearly a year but is planning a comeback, or Gettr, which had less than 2 million visitors in February.

Source: PA

Those shareholders helped the stock of DWAC more than double this year in anticipation of the merger going through.

But these investors could experience a bumpy ride. For one, they are betting on a company with vague prospects of turning a profit.

Trump Media lost $49 million in the first nine months of last year when it brought in just $3.4 million in revenue. 

Trump, who is facing four criminal trials in his race to U.S. presidency, has been struggling to raise money for his campaign and legal expenses.

Meanwhile, a pause to a ruling that would have blocked New York state authorities from seizing his assets bought Trump some financial breathing room as he tries to build a campaign war chest and keep his real-estate empire intact.

The deal will inject $300 million cash to Truth Social, which had lost $10.6 million from its operations in the first nine months of 2023.

TMTG was among the top 15 most actively traded shares on the Nasdaq at 7:06 a.m. ET.

The company also provides a way for supporters of Trump to bet on his resurgence as a political figure, as evidenced by shares of shell company Digital World Acquisition nearly tripling in value this year.

A Reddit user Chester-Ming posted 'the (Trump) hype has the potential to offset everything - shitty fundamentals, insane dilution and more', on 15 million-large 'wallstreetbets' investor forum, although the user warned that Trump could potentially cut his stake.

Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market on Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Stocks in Trump´s social media company soared nearly 50 percent in its first day of trading 

Truth Social launched in February 2022, one year after Trump was banned from multiple major social platforms 

The common stock of Trump Media & Technology Group will trade under the ticker symbol 'DJT.' 

Digital World said in a filing last month that Trump may divest his stake in Truth Social and cease any involvement in its management based on how his bid for president goes.

The special purpose acquisition firm signed its merger agreement with Trump's company in October 2021 and since then has been the target of investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice.

It reached an $18 million settlement with the U.S. securities regulator over inaccurate disclosures in July last year.

Shareholders voted in favor of the deal last week, more than a month after the regulator gave the green light for the deal.