Inside the secret $100K tool giving traders Trump's news first
AlterNet reports:
By Richard Reich
Starting August 1, Trump Media and Technology Group will launch a new data feed aimed at high-frequency trading firms whose profits are made by making trades a fraction of a second faster than everyone else.
It will provide “licensed, real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” In other words, the feed will let you know what Trump has said before anyone else knows, meaning it’s well worth the tab that Truth Social will charge to see Trump’s posts before the rest of the public sees them — up to $100,000 per month.
That’s a pittance relative to what could be made, because Trump’s words on Truth Social — about his war in Iran, about his latest tariffs, about the Fed — have caused the stock market to soar or drop. So, if you’re a trader on Wall Street, you’ll make millions if you know what he’s posting a fraction of a second before everyone else knows. Perhaps more to the point, if you’re behind on that news, “you’ll get crushed,” as one hedge-fund executive told the Financial Times.
No wonder Trump Media’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn is gloating that the feed will “become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.” Trump Media has been unprofitable until now.
Trump, of course, is the company’s largest shareholder.
The scheme is Trump’s most brazen way to illegally profit off his presidency and enrich his Wall Street insider friends.
I say illegally because the Constitution lists “bribery” as a reason to remove a president from office, and the federal ban on bribing public officials also expressly applies to a president. (Whether these provisions can be enforced against a president who’s been given blanket immunity from “official acts” by the Supreme Court is another matter.)
The good news, though, is Americans are catching on to insider trading, and they hate it — so much so that House Republican leaders are now teeing up a vote this week on a bill that would create new guardrails for lawmakers trading stocks.
The “Stop Insider Trading Act” would bar members of Congress and their families from purchasing new shares of stock and require them to file a notice of their plans to sell shares at least seven days ahead of time.
Most Democrats say the measure doesn’t go far enough because it allows members to keep shares of stock they already own, in contrast with a competing bipartisan proposal that bars members from trading individual shares of stock altogether. And one provision Republicans have snuck into the measure —and that must be removed if they want any Democratic votes — deters mail-in voting.
The point is that at the same time Trump is rolling out a new tool to give traders more immediate access to his market-moving posts on Truth Social — if they’ll pay him up to $100,000 a month for it — Congress is limiting how members can profit from inside information they obtain through elected office.
The American public is so disgusted by corruption in Washington that even Republican lawmakers want something to show they’re not in the swamp.
Trump doesn’t give a damn about the public’s mounting revulsion at corruption. He’s not up for reelection. He doesn’t care that his polls are in the cellar. All he wants to do is make even more money, exert more power, and get even with people who have gotten in his way.
But the public wants his swamp drained.
Democrats, take note. Three months from now, ask Americans two related questions: Do they think they’re better off than they were before Trump became president again? Do they approve of the most corrupt White House in American history?
The answer to both will be a resounding no. And the best way for Americans to act on their disgust will be to kick the Republican bums out.
My comments:
Federal laws like the STOCK Act, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Constitution's Emoluments Clauses apply to the President, although enforcement and general ethics restrictions face unique constitutional and legal gray areas.
The STOCK Act of 2012: Explicitly affirms that the President, Vice President, and other executive branch employees are not exempt from insider trading prohibitions. It establishes that federal officials owe a "duty of trust and confidence" regarding material, nonpublic information gained from their public positions.
Securities Exchange Act (Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5): Prohibits anyone from using confidential, nonpublic information to make a profit or avoid a loss in the stock market.
Self-Enrichment and Financial Restrictions of the Domestic Emoluments Clause: Dictates that the President receives a fixed, unchanging salary from the federal government and cannot receive any other money or extra enrichment from the U.S. government or individual states while in office. [\b]
The Foreign Emoluments Clause: Bars the President from accepting any gifts, titles, or money from foreign states or kings without the approval of Congress.General Executive Ethics Exemption: Unlike lower-level executive branch workers, the President and Vice President are officially exempt from most general conflict-of-interest statutes (such as 18 U.S.C. § 208) that normally force government workers to sell personal assets that clash with their official duties.
I am not a lawyer, so I will stop at this point. But I have a lot of questions along these lines so I will be keeping a very close eye on [b]The MediasTouch Network for some answers…
By Richard Reich
Starting August 1, Trump Media and Technology Group will launch a new data feed aimed at high-frequency trading firms whose profits are made by making trades a fraction of a second faster than everyone else.
It will provide “licensed, real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” In other words, the feed will let you know what Trump has said before anyone else knows, meaning it’s well worth the tab that Truth Social will charge to see Trump’s posts before the rest of the public sees them — up to $100,000 per month.
That’s a pittance relative to what could be made, because Trump’s words on Truth Social — about his war in Iran, about his latest tariffs, about the Fed — have caused the stock market to soar or drop. So, if you’re a trader on Wall Street, you’ll make millions if you know what he’s posting a fraction of a second before everyone else knows. Perhaps more to the point, if you’re behind on that news, “you’ll get crushed,” as one hedge-fund executive told the Financial Times.
No wonder Trump Media’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn is gloating that the feed will “become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.” Trump Media has been unprofitable until now.
Trump, of course, is the company’s largest shareholder.
The scheme is Trump’s most brazen way to illegally profit off his presidency and enrich his Wall Street insider friends.
I say illegally because the Constitution lists “bribery” as a reason to remove a president from office, and the federal ban on bribing public officials also expressly applies to a president. (Whether these provisions can be enforced against a president who’s been given blanket immunity from “official acts” by the Supreme Court is another matter.)
The good news, though, is Americans are catching on to insider trading, and they hate it — so much so that House Republican leaders are now teeing up a vote this week on a bill that would create new guardrails for lawmakers trading stocks.
The “Stop Insider Trading Act” would bar members of Congress and their families from purchasing new shares of stock and require them to file a notice of their plans to sell shares at least seven days ahead of time.
Most Democrats say the measure doesn’t go far enough because it allows members to keep shares of stock they already own, in contrast with a competing bipartisan proposal that bars members from trading individual shares of stock altogether. And one provision Republicans have snuck into the measure —and that must be removed if they want any Democratic votes — deters mail-in voting.
The point is that at the same time Trump is rolling out a new tool to give traders more immediate access to his market-moving posts on Truth Social — if they’ll pay him up to $100,000 a month for it — Congress is limiting how members can profit from inside information they obtain through elected office.
The American public is so disgusted by corruption in Washington that even Republican lawmakers want something to show they’re not in the swamp.
Trump doesn’t give a damn about the public’s mounting revulsion at corruption. He’s not up for reelection. He doesn’t care that his polls are in the cellar. All he wants to do is make even more money, exert more power, and get even with people who have gotten in his way.
But the public wants his swamp drained.
Democrats, take note. Three months from now, ask Americans two related questions: Do they think they’re better off than they were before Trump became president again? Do they approve of the most corrupt White House in American history?
The answer to both will be a resounding no. And the best way for Americans to act on their disgust will be to kick the Republican bums out.
My comments:
Federal laws like the STOCK Act, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Constitution's Emoluments Clauses apply to the President, although enforcement and general ethics restrictions face unique constitutional and legal gray areas.
The STOCK Act of 2012: Explicitly affirms that the President, Vice President, and other executive branch employees are not exempt from insider trading prohibitions. It establishes that federal officials owe a "duty of trust and confidence" regarding material, nonpublic information gained from their public positions.
Securities Exchange Act (Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5): Prohibits anyone from using confidential, nonpublic information to make a profit or avoid a loss in the stock market.
Self-Enrichment and Financial Restrictions of the Domestic Emoluments Clause: Dictates that the President receives a fixed, unchanging salary from the federal government and cannot receive any other money or extra enrichment from the U.S. government or individual states while in office. [\b]
The Foreign Emoluments Clause: Bars the President from accepting any gifts, titles, or money from foreign states or kings without the approval of Congress.General Executive Ethics Exemption: Unlike lower-level executive branch workers, the President and Vice President are officially exempt from most general conflict-of-interest statutes (such as 18 U.S.C. § 208) that normally force government workers to sell personal assets that clash with their official duties.
I am not a lawyer, so I will stop at this point. But I have a lot of questions along these lines so I will be keeping a very close eye on [b]The MediasTouch Network for some answers…
