Markets
markets
Yiwen Lu

Trump media stock fell to its lowest levels since IPO

Shares of former president Donald Trump’s media company dropped to $16.98 on Wednesday, the lowest since it went public, wiping out all of its gains this year. 

Trump Media & Technology Group went public on March 26 through a blank-check merger and spiked shortly after that, trading at $79.38 at its peak. The stock has since fallen by more than 70%, wiping out more than $4 billion from the company’s market cap. It’s worth about $3.4 billion now. 

The lockup period will expire as soon as Sept. 19, which means that Trump will be able to sell his shares in a few weeks (unless the price drops below $12, which will push back that date to Sept. 25). With Trump holding a 58% stake in DJT, the potential for a flood of his shares to hit the market may be putting downward pressure on the stock.

The sell-off may have also been exacerbated by retail traders who wrestled with Trump’s return to X. In August, Trump talked to Elon Musk in a Spaces audio event that lasted more than two hours. Trump Media owns Truth Social, a rival of X.

The lockup period will expire as soon as Sept. 19, which means that Trump will be able to sell his shares in a few weeks (unless the price drops below $12, which will push back that date to Sept. 25). With Trump holding a 58% stake in DJT, the potential for a flood of his shares to hit the market may be putting downward pressure on the stock.

The sell-off may have also been exacerbated by retail traders who wrestled with Trump’s return to X. In August, Trump talked to Elon Musk in a Spaces audio event that lasted more than two hours. Trump Media owns Truth Social, a rival of X.

More Markets

See all Markets
markets

Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain projected that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks. Through noon ET on Friday, his daily outflow estimate stands at $851 million.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

Prediction Markets Draftkings

DraftKings rebounds after Wall Street hears its prediction market plans

The company plans to launch its own predictions product in the coming months.

markets

Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.