Trump Media stock plunges after weekslong rally

After a weekslong rally that saw shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) roughly triple in value, the stock took an 8% nosedive Tuesday afternoon.

Shares of the company behind former President Donald Trump’s right-wing social media platform Truth Social fell to $26.60 apiece after having been up roughly 10% that morning. Tuesday’s volatility led to the Nasdaq briefly halting trading.

The company’s stock has fluctuated wildly in value in the nearly seven months since it went public under the ticker DJT. Late last month, shares dropped as low as $12.15 each. Since Oct. 1, however, Trump Media shares are up 70%.

This see-sawing comes just weeks before the presidential election, which will see Trump face off against Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris at the ballot box.

Trump is a majority shareholder of Trump Media, holding roughly 57% of the company’s stock — and he has said he has no plans to let go of his holdings. The stock’s recent rally has added some $2 billion to Trump’s net worth.

Trump Media has been widely considered a “meme stock” or “affinity stock,” with shares trading largely on sentiment about the former president by retail and individual investors, regardless of the company’s actual operating results or prospects.

“It’s purchasing his brand,” John Rekenthaler, vice president of research at Morningstar (MORN), previously told Quartz. He warned that the company’s stock could “go to zero” or close to it if Trump loses the coming election.

Trump Media has said in regulatory filings that its “success depends in part on the popularity of its brand and the reputation and popularity” of Trump and that “adverse reactions to publicity relating to [Trump], or the loss of his services, could adversely affect TMTG’s revenues and results of operations.”