Wall Street trading firms are paying up to $100,000 (£74,000) a month to read President Donald Trump's market-moving Truth Social posts milliseconds before ordinary investors, a service now facing a federal lawsuit that calls it 'profoundly corrupt'.
The setup works like a rigged clock. When Trump posts on tariffs, war, or economic policy, paying firms see it first and can trade on it while the rest of the market catches up.
Why Retail Investors See the News Last
In high-speed trading, a few milliseconds can be worth millions of dollars. Firms that buy the fastest feed get a head start on every market-moving announcement the president makes.
Everyone else, including 401(k) holders and retail investors who track their savings on ordinary apps, reacts to the same news last. By the time the post reaches the public feed, insiders may have already moved.
The president routinely uses Truth Social to break policy that shifts stocks, currencies, and commodities within minutes, which is what turns a speed advantage into a money advantage.
The Lawsuit Calls It Corrupt
The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued Trump on 12 August in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint argues the arrangement is 'extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional'.
'The President stands to gain financially by giving market-moving government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company,' the filing says.
The suit claims the service violates the First Amendment right to equal access to a president's public statements and the Fifth Amendment bar on charging unreasonable sums for a government benefit. It asks the court to stop Trump from posting official information exclusively behind the paid feed. Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and executive assistant Natalie Harp are named as defendants.
The White House has argued in other cases that Trump's posts count as official presidential statements. Plaintiffs say that makes selling early access a sale of public government information.
Who's Paying and What Trump Stands To Gain
The product, called Truth API, or application programming interface, launched on 1 August and delivers posts from 10 top Truth Social accounts, including Trump's, within milliseconds. Trump Media and Technology Group interim chief executive Kevin McGurn told investors the company had signed more than 10 customer agreements, 'primarily high-frequency trading firms', generally paying $60,000 to $100,000 (£44,000 to £74,000) a month.
Trump holds about 41% of Trump Media through a trust overseen by his children, so revenue from the feed ties directly to his personal wealth. McGurn defended the service as a standard business practice and said the company hopes to offer it to retail investors later.
Senators Push for an SEC Probe
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether the feed breaks federal securities laws on insider trading and market manipulation. The SEC confirmed it received the letter but would not say if it would act.
A former SEC official told NPR the paid access could run afoul of insider-trading rules because it hands select buyers information others cannot get. For now, ordinary investors keep reacting to the president's words after the people who paid to see them first.
