A hedge fund has revealed it’s betting against President Donald Trump’s media company.
Qube Research & Technologies disclosed a net short position in Trump Media & Technology Group — representing 2.5% of the Truth Social owner’s outstanding shares — in Germany’s Federal Gazette on Monday. The wager is valued at about $105 million, based on TMTG’s market value of about $4.2 billion.
Breakout Point, the research firm that first spotted the filing, said in a note emailed to Business Insider that this was the first short wager against TMTG to be disclosed to regulators, and QRT’s second-biggest short in percentage terms. Other short sellers have targeted the stock in the past.
This filing was likely made to comply with Germany’s short-selling regulations, intended to increase market transparency.
TMTG shares tumbled to a six-month low this month after the company registered for sale shares belonging to Trump — who owns 53% of the business — and several other shareholders.
TMTG and QRT didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Usually, an investor who is “long” on a stock has bought it expecting it to rise, while one who is “short” is betting that it will fall.
Short sellers borrow shares of their target company and then sell them, hoping they can buy back the shares at a lower price, return them to the lender, and pocket the difference as profit.
TMTG went public in March last year via a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. The meme stock has tanked 44% this year and trades more than 80% below its peak price.
Total short interest was 4.9% on Monday, Nasdaq data shows.
