Trump’s announcements and actions influence the stock market: A stock trader on the New York Stock Exchange.Image: keystone
Donald Trump made stock market transactions worth millions in the first three months of the year, according to the US ethics agency. Spicy: The US President also invests in companies that benefit from his government.
May 20, 2026, 8:16 p.mMay 20, 2026, 8:16 p.m
The US president – whose official annual salary is $400,000 – is allowed to own, buy and sell securities, but must disclose his private transactions to the state. The Constitution of the United States does not prohibit him from trading on the stock exchange, but it does prohibit insider trading. The current incumbent, Donald Trump, and those around him have been suspected several times of having carried out such prohibited transactions – but so far without official charges and without hard and fast evidence.
Conspicuous stock market transactions
The opposition Democrats are calling for an investigation into suspicious stock market transactions. But so far they have been denied any success. Steven Horsford, a Democratic representative in the House of Representatives, had declared in April: “18 minutes before the tariff break was announced last year, traders were placing huge bets that the market would skyrocket.” And this year, shortly before Trump announced new negotiations with Iran, someone made a profit of hundreds of millions of dollars by betting on falling oil prices. «This is no coincidence. “This is a pattern,” emphasized Horsford. “The only people who have this information in advance are within this government.”
«This is no coincidence. This is a pattern»: Democratic Representative Horsford from the US state of Nevada.Image: keystone
3700 stock exchange transactions in three months
It is on record, however, that Trump made extensive stock market transactions in the first quarter of the current year. This is based on a legal requirement Publication by the US ethics authority Office of Government Ethics (OGE) which lists more than 3,700 securities transactions for the first three months – a massive increase compared to the previous quarter, for which Trump only disclosed 380 transactions. These were transactions with individual volumes ranging from $1 million to $25 million, with the total amount for each item shown as a range rather than an exact amount.
The total value of the transactions was as follows Information from the Reuters news agency between at least 220 million dollars (around 174 million Swiss francs) and up to 750 million dollars (around 592 million Swiss francs). The relatively wide range is explained by the fact that the mandatory information only has to contain rough ranges of values, not exact amounts. Any winnings are not shown. The Washington Post reported that Trump submitted the mandatory information about his securities trading months late. He was therefore given a symbolic fine of $200.
The OGE documents also show that the president’s largest investments were in the technology sector: Trump bought securities from ServiceNow, Nvidia, AMD, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Motorola, Amazon, Texas Instruments and Dell. Trump’s four largest sales during the period mentioned also primarily concerned tech stocks: He sold securities from Microsoft, Amazon and Meta worth between $5 and $25 million.
Possible conflicts of interest
Trump also invested millions in companies that are highly dependent on political decisions by the US government – of which he himself is the highest authority. An example of this is the tech giant Nvidia, which asked Washington for permission to sell chips to China again. Trump bought up to $5 million of that company’s stock in early January, just a week before his administration gave Nvidia permission to do so, and again shortly thereafter. Another purchase of Nvidia shares was also strikingly close to a relevant event: a week after Trump’s purchase, the tech company announced a significant chip deal with the social media group Meta on February 10th.
Trump bought shares in the tech giant Nvidia several times.Image: keystone
Similar events occurred with purchases of shares in AMD and Palantir. In the case of AMD, Trump bought shares in the company shortly before the US government gave it permission to supply chips to China again. Trump bought shares in Palantir even though the company received a billion-dollar government contract from the Department of Homeland Security in February. Palantir supplies the authority with software for deportations.
The journalist and political advisor Judd Legum also pointed this out in his “Popular Information” newsletterthat Trump publicly praised or promoted several companies – including Apple, Dell and Thermo Fisher – around the time he bought their shares. The Trump Organization countered these allegations by pointing out that it was outside consultants who managed Trump’s investments. It is not clear from the OGE documents whether Trump personally ordered the transactions. Officially, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump run Trump’s personal assets and his corporate empire.
Trump’s second son Eric with his wife Lara.Image: keystone
Trump’s wealth is growing
The White House vigorously rejected allegations that Donald Trump was enriching himself in office last year. Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt described it as “completely absurd” and explained that On the contrary, Trump sacrificed a “life of luxury” for the service of the American people. However, this is offset by the fact that Trump and those around him have their assets according to Forbes estimates were able to increase significantly in the first year of his second term in office.
The increase amounts to several billion dollars. The lion’s share of this is likely to come from cryptocurrency: meme coins associated with Trump have brought in billions for the family and their inner circle. Since Trump took office, his sons have invested in a number of new industries, including artificial intelligence, drones and critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths. Their real estate portfolio abroad has also expanded significantly.
“Hypocritical” and “shameless”
Trump’s son Eric, who as deputy head of the family’s real estate and cryptocurrency businesses, recently accompanied the US President to China, which led to criticism. The broadcaster MS Now, for example, accused the Trump familyto do business with the presidency, using the terms “hypocritical” and “shameless”:
‘Hypocritical’ and ‘shameless’: Panel reacts to Trump’s family joining trip to China
Eric Trump responded with a post on the online service X on it, in which he announced that he would sue MS Now. “I have no business interests in China,” he wrote on X. “No real estate, no investments, nothing! I went on this journey for one reason only: as a loving son who adores his father more than anything and would definitely not miss being by his side in this incredible moment.”
I intend to sue @jrpsaki and @MSNOWNews over the below clip. To be clear:
• Contrary to her monologue and blatant lies, I have NEVER been on the board of ALT5 — not now, not ever. Any person with basic access to Google and willing to open a company’s annual report or proxy…
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) May 15, 2026
Private interests in the presidency
The US portal Axios writes that with each passing month, Trump “weaves the financial interests of his family, his allies and his political movement more closely than ever into the fabric of the American presidency.”
With each passing month, Trump is weaving the financial interests of his family, his allies and his political movement more tightly than ever into the fabric of the American presidency. https://t.co/DBreialI16
— Axios (@axios) May 19, 2026
Most recent example: the so-called anti-instrumentalization funds. It is the result of an extraordinary legal dispute in which private citizen Donald Trump sued the US tax authority IRS for $ 10 billion in January, while at the same time, by virtue of his office as president, he controlled the authorities and lawyers on the other side. The legal confrontation ended with a settlement: Trump withdrew his lawsuit and the $1.8 billion fund financed by taxpayers’ money was set up. Bypassing Congress, the fund could provide financial support to January 6 defendants, conservative activists, former Trump associates and other allies under investigation. The Democrats are foaming with anger – their Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, spoke of “bribes” for Trump allies.