Trump Media is trying to sell itself amid a post-lockout trading frenzy

Trump Media Shares rose Tuesday morning as the company behind Truth Social tried to pull itself out of a downward spiral that coincided with company insiders, including majority owner Donald Trump, getting the go-ahead to start selling its the actions.

Shares of DJT jumped as much as 7% in heavy trading shortly after the opening bell. The stock was up about 2% at 11 a.m. ET.

The increase followed six straight days of trading in the red, sending Trump Media shares down more than 32%.

That plunge was just the latest negative period in a months-long slide for the company, which went public in late March after completing a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

Since hitting an intraday peak of $79.38 a share in its Nasdaq debut, Trump Media shares have lost more than 84% of their value.

On Monday, the stock fell to its lowest point since October 2021, when news of a planned merger between Trump Media and the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., was first made public.

Trump currently owns nearly 57% of the company’s outstanding shares. While the value of his holding has fallen by billions of dollars in recent months, it was still worth nearly $1.5 billion as of Tuesday morning.

The Republican presidential candidate and other early investors in the company were barred from selling their shares until lock-up agreements expire, which they did on Thursday.

The expiration of the lockup fueled waves of speculation about whether early investors would try to dump their shares in the company, whose sole product, Truth Social, has generated reduced revenue in recent fiscal quarters.

Trump has promised not to sell his package.

But Trump Media warned that other early investors planned to cash out as soon as the locks expired.

It was unclear Tuesday morning if any previously closed entities had tried to sell since Thursday. But in most cases, those sales would trigger disclosure requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.