Trump’s Truth Social sinks to lowest level, dropping over 13% after testy debate with Harris
Shares of Donald Trump’s company that owns Truth Social took a beating Wednesday as betting odds of a win for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris grew following their combative presidential debate.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, plummeted more than 13% to $16.16 a share — its lowest price since merging with blank check company Digital World Acquisition in March. The stock closed at $16.68, down 10%.
Trump has a more than 50% stake in TMTG, which has a market value of $3.7 billion.
Its shares are popular among retail traders and sensitive to the former president’s chances of a win in November.
The stock has slumped nearly 60% since mid-July as Harris’ chances to beat Trump have ticked up after she replaced President Biden as the Democratic candidate.
Her odds of gaining the White House rose again after the vice president put Trump on the defensive during Tuesday’s 90-minute debate on ABC.
Bets on a win for Harris increased to 56% after the debate from 53%, while Trump’s odds fell to 48% from 52%, according to betting website PredictIt.
Harris’ candidacy also received a boost after pop megastar Taylor Swift told her 280 million Instagram followers in a post that she will vote for the Democratic candidate.
Trump will soon be able to sell his shares after a lockup deal with Digital World expires in two weeks. Investors worry the sale could further sink the stock.
Trump’s difficult debate showing also sent cryptocurrencies lower on Wednesday. He had staked his claim as the crypto candidate during the 2024 Bitcoin Conference.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell about 2.5%, while ether dropped 3.1%.
“Following the performance of Harris in the debate and perhaps Taylor Swift’s endorsement, there is a slightly lower chance of a crypto-supporting Trump in the White House,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, told Reuters.
Crypto miners Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital and US-listed shares of Hut 8 were down 2% or less Wednesday.
Software firm and BTC buyer MicroStrategy was down 0.3%.
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global dropped 0.8% and Blockchain farm operator Bitfarms was down 1%.
“The U.S. presidential debate did not address crypto directly. However, market sentiment is shifting in favor of Kamala Harris,” Valentin Fournier, analyst at research firm BRN, told Reuters.
“This creates a somewhat less optimistic outlook for bitcoin compared to the more enthusiastic projections made by Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference.”
