Trump Media stock price down more than 10% after days-long rebound in continued volatility

Trump Media stock prices fell more than 10% Friday afternoon after a streak of climbing in the days ahead of the first presidential debate.

Hours before Donald Trump faced off with President Joe Biden in Atlanta, Trump Media & Technology Group share prices closed at $36.73. After people across the country watched Biden stumble through several answers and Trump repeatedly drill down on immigration, the share price was up 8.3% to $39.78 at open.

But by Friday afternoon, that fell to around $32 per share.

Market volatility for the company behind Truth Social, often referred to a meme stock, is nothing new.

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Trump Media stock price

How the parent company of Truth Social went public

Trump founded his social media company in 2021 after being booted from other major platforms following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq on March 26 through a merger with shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The merger was announced in 2021.

Trump's debut on the stock market was splashy, with Trump Media shares soaring, helped partly by – and to the delight of – his supporters.

But prices have fluctuated wildly since then. The stock price has swung from a high of $79.38 per share at the close of March 26 to its lowest close of $22.84 on April 16. It steadily rose throughout Trump's hush money trial, before starting a weeks-long decline after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts.

That downward trend didn't reverse until the debate was just a week away.

Trump Media considered a meme stock

The parent company of the Truth social app has been compared to GameStop and AMC. Like these typical meme stocks, Trump Media is overvalued compared with its peers − other social media companies − at least by conventional Wall Street standards.

In May, Trump Media reported a net loss of $327.6 million in the first quarter of 2024 and brought in $770,500 in revenue, according to a reportedly unaudited filing. Regulatory filings show the company was operating at a loss in 2023, making about $4 million in revenue while losing more than $58 million.

Experts have previously told USA TODAY that meme stocks rely on attention. The debate, one of the most-watched events in television, certainly brought that for Trump.