‘That’s the MAGA playbook’: Crypto trade made moments before Trump post raises eyebrows

An anonymous online cryptocurrency trader reportedly scored an $88 million profit after making a lofty bet that the value of Bitcoin would plummet, a bet that was made just before a major tariff announcement from President Donald Trump that saw that bet pay off in spades, leaving online critics suspicious of insider trading within the Trump administration.

As reported in the Economic Times, an anonymous trader opened a large short position on the value of Bitcoin. A short is an investment strategy in which a trader borrows shares and sells them immediately, agreeing to repurchase and return the same number of shares later. The trader profits if the stock’s price falls, buying the shares back at a lower price and pocketing the difference.

The trader opened the short position Friday, and, according to the financial data and analytics platform Unusual Whales, had opened their account “30 minutes before Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on China.”

“Trump has been using the presidency to directly manipulate markets to increase the wealth of himself and his friends,” wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director for the Campaign for New York Health, in a social media post on X Saturday.

“This is corruption. There’s a reason Trump fired the independent ethics watchdog that oversaw corruption in his administration.”

Trump has faced scrutiny in the past for his dealings with cryptocurrency, particularly with the establishment of his own meme cryptocurrency called “$Trump,” a venture that reportedly enriched Trump to the tune of more than $20 billion.

“This happens every single time Trump has a tariff announcement,” wrote X user “Kadafi Purp,” who frequently shares content critical of the Trump administration.

“Insiders benefit, retail investors and consumers, and American businesses suffer. That’s the MAGA playbook. Privatize gains and socialize losses.”

Others, like political commentator Brian Allen, called the trade a potential case of “insider trading on steroids.”

“A brand new crypto account was opened yesterday morning; 30 minutes before Trump announced 100% China tariffs, it opened a massive, multi-million dollar leveraged Bitcoin short,” Allen wrote to his more than 205,000 followers on X. “You don’t ‘guess’ a move like that. You get tipped off."