Trump Media stock, which trades under $DJT, continued its months-long dive after former President Donald Trump’s rocky debate performance on Tuesday night, just over a week before he’ll be able to sell his stocks in the company.
Trump boosters online, many of whom see the stock as a personal investment in the fortunes of the former president, aren’t too worried though. Instead, they see the downturn as part of a pattern of market manipulation which they just need to rally together to fight back against.
$DJT dropped over 12% since the market opened this morning, while the Nasdaq rose 1.2%. The stock is down almost 60% over the past 6 months. It hit a high of over $79 at the end of March when the stock went public.
Now it’s hovering around $16.30.
On Truth Social, the flagship, deeply unprofitable social media platform run by Trump Media, posters in the $DJT group warned each other not to sell on this dip. Instead, they posted about reporting the stock movement to the SEC, which regulates the stock market, and continuing to buy the stock in anticipation of it jumping again.
“Don’t forget to call or email the SEC today to let them know how to feel about the illegal market manipulation going on with $DJT ! (Try to be respectful and not say anything they could hold against you.)” posted @LetsGoBrandon45. “I made this meme in honor of this price drop today. There’s two types of people in this world.”
The last time $DJT saw any movement upward was after Trump survived an unsuccessful assassination attempt in mid-July. Some posters saw Trump’s survival, which many supporters attribute to divine intervention, as an example of Trump’s enemies failing.
Now, they see the stock downturn as an alternative way for Trump’s enemies to go after him after failing to take him out.
“It took them 10 days after the assassination attempt to put into motion this organized death spiral. When you start to see nice neat patterns in one direction and it never gives, you know something's up,” posted @DMane over a graph with the stock’s recent slide labeled “organized attack.”
Other posters pointed to Trump’s debate performance, which they thought blew Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris out of the water, as another reason for an attack on the stock price.
“Well, I can’t say No at these price… Every demrat is shocked today …” posted @Getae36. “They realized Trump is the next President… Again… so they gonna attack DJT. Im grabbing as much I can today.”
At the end of August, some Truth Social executives started selling their own shares as soon as the lock-up date expired. Trump still has to wait until Sept. 19 to sell his own shares. But given the current price, he doesn’t stand to make nearly as much as he might have months ago.
Meanwhile, investors online are hoping for something to revive their flagging fortunes.
“The question is how long can #DJT survive this rapid rate of devaluation until Jan 2025 or later?” posted @PappaPatriot. “We've already lost almost 70% of our share price just in the past last 2 months. This is not sustainable for another 4 months or more. Something major needs to happen soon to stop this assault or we're fvcked.”
“I don't know the answers but all we can do is keep the faith,” @DMane replied. “We must be more determined now than ever to see this thing through to the end. No matter where it takes us.”
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