When President Donald Trump posts on Truth Social, markets can move. Now, according to a Reuters exclusive, a handful of deep-pocketed customers are paying the president’s own company for the right to see those posts before everyone else.
Truth Social has signed up the news and data giant Bloomberg and two Wall Street firms, Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading, for its paid “Truth API” feed, Reuters reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. The service sells for up to $100,000 a month.
A 50-millisecond edge
Susquehanna and Jump are both high-frequency trading firms that rely on algorithms and automated strategies. Their software can read a headline, analyze it, and place a trade in thousandths of a second. Trump Media officials have described the feed’s timing advantage as 50 milliseconds, and in that world, that’s a long time.
Why does it matter? Because the president’s posts can swing the value of assets. Reuters pointed to one example: oil futures sank after Trump announced a ceasefire in the Iran war on Truth Social in April. A faster feed gives subscribers an edge that everyday investors checking the app simply don’t have.
Who profits
Truth Social is owned by Trump Media and Technology Group. The president’s family trust owns 41% of the company, and Trump is the trust’s sole beneficiary. SEC filings list Donald Trump Jr. as the trustee, with sole voting and investment power.
Reuters reported that the deals likely mark the first time a business tied to a sitting president has sold access to that president’s statements, something critics have called unethical. In August, Trump Media told investors it had “signed more than 10 customer agreements,” mostly with Wall Street trading firms paying between $60,000 and $100,000 a month. Reuters said it could not confirm that figure.
“Shocking abuse” and a federal lawsuit
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Adam Schiff of California said in July that they had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether the service violates securities laws, calling it a “shocking abuse” of office by a president seeking personal gain. The SEC declined to comment.
In August, Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued Trump, seeking to block the White House from posting official government announcements only on Truth Social while the paid feed exists. Their suit calls the paid service “profoundly corrupt” and argues that putting a price tag on faster access to government information is potentially unconstitutional and favors wealthy Wall Street firms. That case is ongoing.
What the company and the White House say
Trump Media called its product “an industry-standard API” with “significant demand across industries” and said the reporting was “based on misleading information being peddled by anonymous sources aimed at harming our company, customers and shareholders.” A company spokesperson also accused congressional Democrats of mischaracterizing the service.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said neither Trump nor his family is directly involved in portfolio investment decisions, but he did not address the allegation that the president is improperly using his office. Bloomberg, Jump Trading and Susquehanna declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Trump Media’s stock has fallen more than 50% this year, and the company is now worth about $1.8 billion, down from roughly $8 billion at its March 2024 debut, according to Reuters.
So the next time a single post from the president sends markets lurching, remember: some of the biggest players on Wall Street may have seen it first, and they paid Trump’s company for the privilege.