The wild market fluctuations caused by President Donald Trump's tariff announcements raised questions Wednesday afternoon about the potential for insider trading.
Financial markets continued to free-fall Wednesday morning over Trump's tariffs for U.S. trading partners at an average rate of 29 percent. Trump posted on Truth Social, "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT"
After Trump announced that afternoon that he was issuing a 90-day reprieve on all tariffs except for those leveled against China, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2,500 points, while the Nasdaq surged 10%.
This series of events led some, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), to wonder aloud who made money on the week-long financial roller-coaster ride.
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"Trump is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs," Schiff posted to X. "These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading."
Schiff asked, "Who in the administration knew about Trump's latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I'm writing to the White House — the public has a right to know."
One woman whose bio dubbed her a conservative, agreed with Schiff, posting, "There needs to be an investigation. The market was up $35, when the news broke and within minutes it went to $1K than to over $2.5K. It was plain for all to see."
Market watcher, @unusual_whales, with 2.2 million followers on X, posted, "Alright, I think people knew of the tariff pause and traded it beforehand. You can see before Trump posted "buy" on Truth Social, traders opened $QQQ$TQQQ and $SPY calls RIGHT BEFORE THE NEWS, someone opened $SPY 509 calls, expiring TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those calls are up 2100% in one hour. You can see all volume was literally opened TODAY!!!!!!!!!! (That little green arrow). You can see all volume is new opening volume (not only on the Zero days, but also on the weekly $QQQ and $TQQQ calls).
They continued, "This is especially odd given IVR on these was around 82 this morning, with IV through the roof. The traders really wanted to trade directionally... In fact, using Unusual Whales' net premium, you can see people have been loading calls trading for a reversal, following these opening calls. Very clear example here. Insane, someone knew."