Trump Media to charge traders for millisecond Truth Social access
Trump Media is launching a low-latency data feed for trading firms to receive the president's market-moving posts ahead of the public, creating a novel revenue stream for a company whose stock has lost 70% of its value since the inauguration.
Trump Media & Technology Group will begin charging Wall Street firms for millisecond access to Truth Social posts from top accounts, including the president. The new service, Truth PSI, is slated to launch next month and has already signed up initial customers. The company did not disclose pricing.
High-frequency traders routinely pay premiums for early access to economic data, but this marks the first time a platform has monetized direct presidential pronouncements. Markets have reacted sharply to Trump's Truth Social posts on tariffs, immigration enforcement, and the conflict with Iran. Traders are particularly focused on Iran-related updates, which can swing oil prices, inflation expectations, and Federal Reserve rate trajectories.
For Trump Media, the move represents an attempt to extract revenue from its most valuable proprietary asset as its core business struggles. The company's stock has plunged more than 70% since Trump took office, falling from $40 to $9.63, and erasing $6 billion in shareholder wealth. Newly appointed CEO Kevin McGurn described the feed as part of a "strategy to monetize proprietary assets" that he expects to become a "meaningful, ongoing source of revenue."
The arrangement raises unprecedented conflict-of-interest questions, as the president is the largest shareholder of the publicly traded parent company. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University School of Law, said Trump is selling "expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president." She called it "improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself."
Federal conflict-of-interest laws explicitly exempt the president and vice president from rules barring officials from profiting off their office by selling access to their decisions. However, every president since the law's enactment has voluntarily complied by liquidating holdings or using blind trusts. Trump has refused to do so.
Trump Media declined to comment on whether Truth PSI profits directly from the presidency. The company also did not respond to questions about whether the president's own posts would be excluded from the paid feed. Trump's account has 12.9 million followers, making him the platform's most popular user, followed by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
The data feed is the latest in a series of ventures by the Trump family company aimed at reversing its stock decline, including pushes into crypto, financial services, and nuclear fusion. Despite these efforts and over $1 billion in personal revenue Trump reported last year across his media and crypto businesses, investor losses continue to mount.
