Truth Social data trade faces diminishing returns

Trump Media is one of the few family ventures that has struggled to profit from the former reality TV star's return to the White House. Its shares have fallen roughly 60% since his 2024 election victory. Despite expanding into cryptocurrencies and financial services the company generated revenue of just $3.7 million last year and recorded a net loss of nearly $700 million. A merger with nuclear fusion wannabe TAE Technologies seems unlikely to change its fortunes.

Selling privileged access to Trump’s posts could transform the economics, though. Hedge funds and other asset managers are already trading on Trump's proclamations about tariffs, companies, and geopolitics. The offer of access to speedier posts may be hard to refuse, especially if rivals sign up. There were 8,573 hedge funds at the end of the first quarter, according to Hedge Fund Research, of which about 15% focus on macroeconomic trends that can be directly affected by Trump’s comments. If all those firms subscribe to Truth API at the mooted rate of $100,000 a month reported by Reuters, Trump Media would bring in more than $1.5 billion annually.