Trump Stands to Profit Off US Policies 08/03 06:08

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- President Donald Trump knows the world hangs on his every 
word. Now he wants you to pay for it.

   The social media posts of the world's most powerful man are going on sale 
Saturday when his Truth Social business begins offering sneak peeks of them to 
Wall Street traders willing to pay up. The move raises the prospect of big 
profits for Trump's company and big questions about insider trading and using 
public office for private gain.

   Similar fast speed feeds are sold by other social media firms and media 
providers, but Truth Social doesn't just distribute the news, it makes it, 
regularly rattling markets as Trump posts policy changes on everything from war 
to central bank leadership to tariffs.

   "If this was the CEO of a public company, this would be jail time," said 
Irene Aldridge, head of Able Alpha Trading, which doesn't plan to buy the 
service. "We have a President of the United States who has the front seat to 
all the action, who makes all the decisions, and he's disclosing this ahead of 
time to a select group."

   Trump's company says critics just aren't capitalist enough

   Asked about the propriety of the new service and whether White House lawyers 
had vetted it, Trump's press office declined to comment, referring questions to 
Truth Social's publicly traded parent. That company, Trump Media & Technology, 
issued a statement blasting Democratic critics for mischaracterizing the 
service "out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp 
the distinction between public and nonpublic information -- or, quite possibly, 
both."

   A prolific poster, Trump has sent stocks, bonds and currencies soaring and 
plunging with his online musings and threats. That presents opportunities for 
so-called high frequency traders that specialize in buying and selling within 
milliseconds, exploiting tiny, fleeting difference in prices.

   Profits aplenty betting on oil, stocks and currencies

   Just this month, Trump has threatened on Truth Social to slap higher tariffs 
on Canada, kill a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia and widen the Iran war. With 
advanced knowledge, traders betting on a plunge in the Canadian dollar, a drop 
in nuclear energy stocks and a jump in oil futures could have raked in big 
profits.

   "For the big guys, it's going to be something they need," said Joe Saluzzi, 
co-founder of Themis Trading, who estimates about 100 of high frequency firms 
might be willing to pay for the service. "It's market-moving information."

   Dubbed Truth API, the service comes as these firms are spending more on 
feeds and servers that bypass slower internet connections with direct lines to 
news and data sources. The chance for profits is greater than ever thanks 
artificial intelligence's ability to read posts and articles more accurately 
for market-making changes and Trump's penchant for making news online.

   When Trump makes surprise announcements, traders pounce

   Traders profit when prices jump up and down, and with his taste for 
cliffhangers, threats and policy reversals America's first reality-TV president 
provides plenty of potentially market-moving content.

   The reversals are especially profitable, allowing traders to win both ways 
-- jumping ahead of stocks moving up or down to a post threatening something, 
then cashing out within thousands of a second, then betting the other way.

   In addition to Trump, the service will include posts from other "high 
ranking" Truth Social contributors, including possibly his two oldest sons, 
Donald Jr. and Eric, who along with the father are heavily followed by users.

   Truth Social has said that the information will be released to the traders 
and the general public at the same time so there really isn't an issue of 
fairness. But Themis Trading's Saluzzi, a critic of high speed trading, says 
that's a red herring because when the posts are received, not when they are 
released, is what matters.

   "Somebody who buys the info and has a system built to process it will be 
able to act quicker than you and me," said Saluzzi, adding in reference to 
everyday, small stock buyers, "The loser is always the retail investor."

   Trump posts about a company he likes, and stocks jump

   Aside from policy scoops, another reason to sign up has emerged in recent 
months: Trump is posting more about publicly traded companies, praising ones he 
likes in a way that sets off buying frenzies.

   "The pimping of specific companies -- obviously Wall Street would like to 
know that before other people," said Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, a federal ethics 
rule expert at the watchdog Project on Government Oversight. "It's a real mess."

   In April, moments after Trump praised Palantir Technologies in a post that 
included its stock symbol, the price briefly jumped the most it had in an 
entire year. Later that month, Trump posted, "Congratulations on Intel doing 
such a great job," and the stock immediately jumped in after-hours trading.

   Just which firms are signing up for the feed is unclear. Asked for comment, 
none of the half dozen most well known high-speed traders such as Citadel 
Securities and XTX Markets replied. If just three sign up for the $100,000 a 
month fee, that would double revenue at Trump Media, which reported taking in 
$3.7 million last year.

   Trump Media needs big money customers

   The company can use their business.

   Stock in the Truth Social parent has plunged 75% since Trump took office 
last year as the company keeps reporting hundreds of millions in losses despite 
the president's help driving traffic to its site by posting major decisions 
there.

   In fact, the president breaks news on Truth Social so often that the White 
House press office will copy his posts into an email when responding to 
questions from the media seeking details on policies. If his posts aren't 
available yet, journalists are sometimes told, "Wait for the Truth."

   Another problem for Truth Social is looming if the Democrats take control of 
Congress and launch investigations, as vowed by Massachusetts Senator Sen. 
Elizabeth Warren in a statement Friday specifically attacking the new service: 
"We will haul in those responsible for this open corruption to answer to the 
American people."

   If the losses keep mounting for the company, though, some predict the 
president will push things further, using the platform even more for policy 
announcements.

   "That's absolutely going to happen," warns Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the 
good government group Public Citizen. "Trump knows how to sell products."