Former President Donald Trump has criticized Nasdaq over a routine trading halt in shares of his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which owns Truth Social. Trump threatened to move the listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In a message on Truth Social, Trump questioned, “Why is Nasdaq halting the sale of DJT?” referring to his company’s ticker symbol.
“What right do they have to do this? They have done it twice today. What’s going on?” He suggested that the exchange acted under orders from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an agency he accused of delaying Trump Media’s merger for political reasons.
The trading halts were triggered after Trump announced he would not sell shares in TMTG. This announcement caused the stock price to surge by 25%, prompting two five-minute trading pauses to provide a cooling-off period.
Trump questions Nasdaq trading pauses
Such trading halts are routine and occur frequently for various stocks to minimize excess volatility. According to the information, the first halt occurred at 2:26 p.m. ET, and trading resumed at 2:31 p.m. ET. A second halt took place at 2:34 p.m. ET for another five minutes.
It was explained that single-stock trading pauses are SEC-mandated mechanisms deployed across all U.S. exchanges to protect companies and investors. Joe Saluzzi, a market structure expert and co-founder of Themis Trading, noted that these halts are widespread and have been mandated by federal regulators since 2013. Saluzzi pointed out that moving the stock from one exchange to the NYSE would have no impact since all exchanges follow the same SEC rules.
Despite the routine nature of the halts, Trump has threatened to hold the exchange and possibly the SEC liable. “I am going to hold Nasdaq, and maybe the SEC, liable for doing what they are doing,” he stated. “If they do it again, we will move the stock to the New York Stock Exchange.”
Nasdaq did not respond to requests for comment.
