Would Traders Pay $100,000 a Month for Trump’s Posts?Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.BATS:DJTBlackBull_MarketsTrump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, released its second-quarter results last week. And one part of the report deserves a little more attention. Launched on August 1, Truth API provides paying customers with priority access to President Trump’s Truth tweets. According to Reuters, subscriptions can cost up to $100,000 per month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why would anyone pay that much for social media posts? Bear in mind, Trump doesn’t only post culture war hysteria. He also regularly uses Truth Social to announce or comment on tariffs, foreign policy, individual companies, energy policy and other subjects capable of moving financial markets. The most obvious customers for the API are high-frequency trading firms, which may value even small timing advantages in receiving information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since the launch of the service on August 1st, Trump has Truth tweeted about the following major market moving topics: • Retaliatory compensation sought from Iran (Aug 11) https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117072168149236615 • Rolling back Endangered Species Act in order to open up land for oil and natural resource exploitation. (Aug 5) https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/117039691941169240 • The delay in the continuation of attacks on Iran (Aug 2nd) https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117023461141824050 • Suggesting that Venezuela becomes the 51st state of the USA (Aug 2nd). https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117021597889745378 • Suggests the invasion/ annexation of Greenland by the US (Aug 2nd) https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117021570461990242 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But I also wouldn’t be surprised if companies outside the trading industry are purchasing subscriptions. Companies including Meta and Apple have already contributed substantial sums to Trump-related projects, so $100,000 a month would hardly be an extraordinary expense, particularly if a company believed there was value in maintaining a good relationship with the President. In this respect, I’m surprised that TMTG revealed in its earnings report that only ~10 companies have so far signed up for Truth API. The actual wording is the strangely specific “more than ten customer agreements”. Eleven, perhaps?? Either way, TMTG has not revealed any of the companies using this service yet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is an obvious market-integrity question here, which has now attracted legal action. The Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have sued Trump, arguing that the service is unconstitutional because it turns presidential communications into a paid product. Their case argues that official government information should not be made available on preferential terms to customers paying the President’s private company. The case may also eventually reveal exactly which companies are paying for access.