Trading firms pay Trump Media up to $100,000 a month for faster Truth Social posts

Bloomberg and two high-frequency trading firms, Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading, have agreed to pay President Donald Trump's media company for faster access to his posts on Truth Social, with fees of up to $100,000 a month, according to an exclusive report by Reuters published on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, that cited people familiar with the deals. The product, which Trump Media & Technology Group calls Truth API, delivers posts from key accounts about 50 milliseconds faster than they are available through standard access, the company says. Trump Media says most of its buyers are trading firms and that it has signed more than 10 customer deals. A company spokeswoman has said the early preview does not amount to insider trading.

A presidential post can move markets in seconds. When the President writes about tariffs, a company, interest rates or a foreign country, share prices, currencies and commodities can swing almost at once. For high-frequency traders, whose computers buy and sell in fractions of a second, getting that text even 50 milliseconds before others can be worth a great deal of money.

That is why the arrangement has drawn criticism. Selling earlier access to a sitting president's statements, through a company in which he has a financial interest, raises questions that markets have rarely faced. One former official of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly described the product as apparently illegal. Trump Media rejects that view, saying an early preview of public posts is not insider trading. Insider trading generally involves trading on important information that is not public; the debate here is whether a feed that arrives fractionally earlier than the public one falls within that idea.

There is also a press-freedom angle. In August, Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued, seeking to stop the White House from posting official announcements only on Truth Social while a paid early feed exists. Their argument is that public statements by the government should reach everyone at the same time, not first to those who pay.

For ordinary investors, including Indians who invest in US shares through overseas platforms, the practical point is that the fastest market reactions to presidential posts are being captured by professional firms with paid feeds and automated systems. Retail investors cannot match that speed and should be wary of trading on headlines in the seconds after a post.

Short-term: The report is likely to add to calls in Washington for regulators to examine the product, and to the pending lawsuit over official announcements on Truth Social. More data and trading firms may weigh whether to sign up.

Long-term: The case could test how US securities law treats paid early access to information released by public officials, and whether government statements must be published on neutral channels at the same time for everyone.

Who is affected: High-frequency traders and data companies, retail investors in US markets, Trump Media and its shareholders, US market regulators, and press-freedom groups.

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