Shares in Donald Trump's company, which owns Truth Social, fell on Wednesday as the chances of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' victory grew after their fiery presidential debate.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, fell more than 13% to $16.16 per share — its lowest price since it merged with blank-check company Digital World Acquisition in March. The stock closed down 10% at $16.68.
Trump owns a more than 50% stake in TMTG, which has a market value of $3.7 billion.
Its shares are popular among retail traders and are sensitive to the former president's prospects of victory in November.
The stock has rallied about 60% since mid-July, as the odds of Harris defeating Trump after replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee have grown.
His chances of winning the White House rose again after the vice president put Trump on the defensive during a 90-minute debate on ABC on Tuesday.
According to betting website PredictIt, odds on Harris's win rose from 53% to 56% after the debate, while Trump's odds of winning dropped from 52% to 48%.
Harris's candidacy also got a boost when pop megastar Taylor Swift told her 280 million Instagram followers in a post that she would vote for the Democratic nominee.
Trump will soon be able to sell his shares as his lockup deal with Digital World expires in two weeks. Investors are concerned that the sale could send the stock sinking even further.
Trump’s tough debate performance also pushed cryptocurrencies lower on Wednesday. He had staked his claim as the crypto candidate during the 2024 Bitcoin Summit.
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, fell about 2.5%, while ether lost 3.1%.
“After Harris’ performance in the debate and perhaps Taylor Swift’s endorsement, the chances of a crypto-supporting Trump in the White House are a little less likely,” Susanna Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, told Reuters,
US-listed shares of crypto miners Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital and Hut 8 fell 2% or less on Wednesday.
Software firm and BTC buyer MicroStrategy declined 0.3%.
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global lost 0.8% and blockchain farm operator Bitfarms lost 1%.
“The US presidential debate did not directly address crypto. However, market sentiment appears to be changing in Kamala Harris’ favour,” Valentin Fournier, an analyst at research firm BRN, told Reuters.
“This creates a somewhat less optimistic outlook for bitcoin than the more enthusiastic projections made by Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 conference.”
