There’s the question though.
If Trump wins in November his investment becomes vastly more valuable over night.
If he loses it will be near worthless.
I think Trump loves money more than anything so this might be a good indication of what he thinks his own chances are come election day.
Aren’t naked shorts illegal in the US?
Depends what you mean. In one sense, yes they are. In another, yes, except in the Castro and Fire Island. (And maybe parts of Miami.)
Back on topic though, market value has dropped 10% already since the OP, from $4.3 billion to $3.9 billion, i.e., it’s 10% closer to its actual value. It’s still at least three weeks until Trump has a free hand, so he might be left holding at least some of the bag he intended his fan base to hold for him.
Haha, me too! Good find there. 
No, you can go short any stock where your broker has supply to lend you. Sometimes, it’s difficult to find lenders to go short, but there’s nothing illegal about it.
I’m not even sure what a covered short would be. I only see “naked” in the financial sense in terms of options – naked calls and puts, which are also legal, but risky for sure.
What you describe is “covered short selling” which is indeed very legal. The lender of the stock charges a fee. “Naked short selling” is selling without being lent the stock first, and is not legal.
Interesting. I don’t even understand how that works - do you have to track down a stock before it settles in a day or two?
I have exhausted my very limited fund of knowledge. I only know this much because there was the accusation of naked short selling on this stock (and there was a short supply of stock to borrow with a huge demand of speculators wanting to short it, so the borrowing fees got very high).
If Trump University and Trump Steaks and Trump Wine and various Trump casinos and the Trump presidency didn’t convince his supporters that he’s a con artist, why would dumping Trump Social Media make any difference? “He made $2.5 billion off idiots like us? What an astute businessman. We should definitely vote for him for President!”
My limited understanding is most people shorting a stock do it through their broker. They do not personally phone up Donald Trump and ask to borrow 100,000 shares. Instead, the brokerage will either have those shares or buy those shares to cover you when you want to short. The brokerage will charge a fee to lend you those stocks. The more people want to short, the more it costs to borrow the shares.
Right. But naked short selling (illegal)? How do people even do that?
They stand on a street corner wearing nothing but a trench coat, whispering “Hey Buddy, wanta buy a stock?”
AIUI you and I can not do this. You have a brokerage account and the broker says you have X, Y and Z shares and when you buy and sell you do that out of your account. The broker is backing the deal and seeing to the transfer of funds and stocks.
But, the broker also trades stocks. Who is to say whether they do or do not have the stocks to cover a given position? The broker is assumed to be playing fair. But, the broker could make a trade that they don’t actually own the stocks for. Who is there to stop them? (no one)
The broker, of course, has to cover that trade at settlement so, ultimately, they need to buy that stock. They are hoping they sold it for more and can buy it back for less and then cover their position (which is a profit for them).
That’s the naked short. They sell something they do not actually own and hope they can fix it all on the back end. Very risky.
And, of course, if you are a huge investor with loads of cash you can probably get your broker to do this for you because they want your business.
That’s just it with Trump, if the very long list of idiotic or bad things hasn’t stopped people from supporting him then why would anyone expect the next idiotic or bad thing to make a difference? I do think people are growing tired of Trump. Perhaps bored is a better description. The Trump show is getting old. He pretty much just repeats himself over and over. Trump Fatigue Syndrome?
Since the company is worthless, how can paying real money for it be anything but money laundering?
Money laundering is a series of transactions to give a legitimate pedigree to cash of dubious origins (eg drug money), so the person can then use the money for legitimate purposes.
When a mark gullible investor buys shares of Truth Social, they no longer have the money. Thay’s not money laundering, that’s being scammed an unwise investor.
A stock is worth what someone is willing to pay for. Somebody is still wiling to pay something ergo it is not worthless.
People invest/speculate in companies losing money all the time. And on a short time run I can imagine a story for this company: Trump can’t sell much without tanking the value and some others may jump in if Trump looks like he is a favorite to win again, sell then. They believe the odds of completely losing their stake is less than the odds of doubling or more with just a few very Trump favorable polls. It is a foolish story to be sure, only a bit less foolish than the story that Trump will win and this platform will become the new right wing “free speech” vehicle worldwide, but being foolish it is not money laundering.
Yes, that’s a good point and well made. It may fall out that way, but I feel like this time might be different. The stock price is being held up by Trump supporters who feel like they’re part of a cause. If he takes his payday and leaves them holding worthless paper a month before the election, that has to affect at least some of them. They may want to believe that if he just wins the election, they’ll see the stock soar, but if he dumps his … can they really keep the faith? I guess we’ll know soon.
Your offer is too rich for my blood. But I counter half a bag of Cheetos; might be stale.
Trump will indeed sell at the earliest opportunity. But only to serve a nobler goal. To defend against a crooked system. And to go wherever innocent women and children are afraid to walk the streets, wherever a man cannot live in simple dignity, wherever a people cry out for justice.
I think you’ve confused Donald Trump with Lorenzo Lamas, although admittedly the resemblance is striking:
Stranger