Trump attacks Nasdaq over routine trading halt by Truth Social

CNN
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Former President Donald Trump sharply criticized Nasdaq for a routine trading halt on his social media company's shares and even threatened to move the listing to the New York Stock Exchange.

“Why is NASDAQ stopping the sale of DJT?” Trump asked on Truth Social on Friday, referring to the ticker symbol of Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group. “What right do they have to do that? They've already done it twice today. What's going on?”

Trump said Nasdaq was “taking orders from the SEC,” an agency he accused of delaying the merger with Trump Media “for political reasons.”

In fact, Trump Media's share price, which is traded on the Nasdaq Composite, shot up on Friday after Trump himself made big news: He announced that he would not sell any shares in the company.

This increase was so large that it triggered two five-minute trading pauses to allow for a cooling-off period.

Such trading halts are routine and occur dozens of times a day for various stocks.

Trump Media (DJT) had its first suspension at 2:26 p.m. ET and was lifted at 2:31 p.m. ET, according to the Nasdaq website. That came just minutes after Trump announced during a press conference that he would “not” sell any of the company's shares, a comment that sent the stock up 25%.

Trading in the stock resumed before being halted for another five minutes at 2:34 p.m. ET.

A Nasdaq spokesperson told CNN on Saturday that “individual stock trading halts, also known as 'limit up/limit down,' are SEC-mandated market-wide mechanisms used on all U.S. exchanges and are designed to protect both companies and investors and to minimize excessive volatility in a single stock or the overall market.”

Joe Saluzzi, a market structure expert and co-founder of Themis Trading, told CNN in an email on Saturday that “these types of suspensions are very common,” noting that such suspensions are ordered by federal regulators and have been in effect across the entire U.S. listed stock market since 2013.

“Therefore, Mr. Trump's threat to move his stocks from the Nasdaq to the NYSE would have no effect because both the Nasdaq and the NYSE follow the same SEC rules,” he said.

Although this all seemed routine, Trump threatened to punish Nasdaq.

“I will hold NASDAQ and maybe the SEC accountable for what they do,” he said in his Truth Social post. “If they do it again, we will take the shares to the New York Stock Exchange.”

Nasdaq did not respond to CNN's request for comment.