Trading in shares of Trump Media, the parent company behind Truth Social, was briefly halted in the afternoon of Oct. 15 after a large price drop in a heavy and volatile trading session.
Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group, which trades under the stock ticker DJT, surged by more than 13 percent by the early afternoon and were on pace for the stock’s highest close since July, before a sharp selloff sent it plunging, triggering a five-minute trading halt at around 2:42 p.m. ET.
The company’s stock has rallied sharply recently—up by more than 50 percent in October—as Election Day approaches. Before Tuesday’s slide put a dent in the rally, DJT was on track for its highest close since July 23, when it closed at $32.91.
At its peak on March 27, DJT traded at $66.22. It hit a low of $12.15 on Sept. 23, before embarking on its latest rally.
Former President Donald Trump owns about 57 percent of Trump Media, which currently has a market cap of around $5.44 billion. The stock saw its value balloon to nearly $10 billion following its Wall Street debut.
According to Trump Media, the commencement of DJT’s trading on public markets was a testimony to the U.S. demand for free speech online, rejecting the “stifling censorship” imposed by big tech firms.
A number of retail investors in Trump Media are supporters of the former president, with some analysts suggesting they often trade the stock as a show of support for him or as a way to speculate on his prospects of defeating Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Tuttle wrote in an Oct. 15 note that his model suggested that DJT seemed due for a pullback.
“May actually buy puts on this today, showed up in a couple of models we use to short overbought stocks,” he wrote in a separate post on X at 5:35 a.m. ET on Oct. 15.
