Over 900-Page Report Exposes Trump's Mysterious Trading Operations: AI Trading Timing, High-Frequency Position Switching Before and After Tariff Storm
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Over 900-Page Report Exposes Trump's Mysterious Trading Operations: AI Trading Timing, High-Frequency Position Switching Before and After Tariff Storm
The day before Trump announced the suspension of most reciprocal tariffs last April, his investment account purchased 327 stocks in a single transaction, with invested funds exceeding $3.6 million.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Li Dan, WallstreetCN
The 2025 financial information document report released by the US government this week not only shows that US President Trump made over $1 billion from cryptocurrency business last year, but also fully reveals for the first time the trajectory of Trump's precise stock trading during the most volatile period of the US stock market last year.
The report released by the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is 927 pages long. Some US media analysis reports found that around the time Trump announced global reciprocal tariffs, his investment account conducted hundreds of stock transactions over consecutive days, and concentrated on buying blue-chip stocks like Apple and Berkshire before the tariffs were paused; months later, on the day the White House released the AI Action Plan, he significantly increased holdings in AI leaders like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Although the White House emphasized that Trump himself does not participate in account transactions, all securities investments are managed by independent investment advisors, and the trust is managed by his son Donald Trump Jr., due to the high coincidence of transaction timing with major policy launches, it has once again triggered questions from US ethics watchdogs about whether there is a potential conflict of interest for the president.
Compared to last year's disclosure documents which only showed about 1,000 transactions, this annual financial disclosure by Trump fully publicized for the first time his over 21,000 securities transactions in 2025, covering assets such as stocks, ETFs, and funds, also allowing the market to observe Trump's investment account behavior before and after major policy nodes such as tariffs, AI, and rare earths for the first time.
Unusually Active Trading Around Reciprocal Tariffs: Hundreds of Stocks Bought and Sold Consecutively for Two Days After Tariff Announcement
US media statistics based on OGE financial disclosures found that from April 3 to 4 after Trump announced global reciprocal tariffs, his investment account conducted hundreds of stock transactions, continuously adjusting positions during the sharp market decline.
The trading strategy subsequently changed significantly.
On April 8, the day before Trump announced the suspension of most reciprocal tariffs, his account did not continue to sell stocks, but instead bought 327 stocks at once, investing over $3.6 million, mainly increasing holdings in large blue-chip companies like Apple and Berkshire Hathaway.
On the morning of April 9, Eastern Time, Trump posted on his social media: "Now is a great time to buy. (It's a great time to buy.)" That afternoon, the US government announced a 90-day suspension of most reciprocal tariffs, and US stocks subsequently saw a historic rebound, with the S&P 500 Index recording one of its largest single-day gains since 2008.
Although the White House emphasized that Trump's stock transactions are executed independently by investment advisors, due to the high coincidence of timing, the above transactions have once again become the focus of US ethics watchdogs.
Over 21,000 Transactions in One Year, Daily Average Trading Amount Exceeds $4.2 Million
US media statistics based on the OGE report found: In the full year 2025, Trump's investment account conducted over 21,000 transactions in total, with a daily average trading amount of about $4.2 million, and his account almost completed hundreds of buys and sells every day.
Reports believe that this trading pattern is more similar to tax optimization (tax-loss harvesting) or quantitative rebalancing strategy, rather than active market timing trading in the traditional sense.
However, since these transactions were only fully publicized for the first time in this financial disclosure, Trump previously only disclosed about 1,000 major transactions as required by law, so his full-year investment operations were previously basically not in the public eye.
It is worth noting that due to some transactions failing to be disclosed in time according to the 45-day regulation, the homepage of Trump's financial report this time also shows that he paid a $200 overdue declaration fine.
On the Day AI Strategy Was Announced, Significantly Increased Positions in Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple
In addition to tariff transactions, another set of investments that attracted market attention is AI-related investments.
US media pointed out that on the day the White House announced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan in July 2025, Trump's investment account simultaneously conducted one of the largest technology stock position builds of the year.
The individual stocks bought heavily by Trump's account that day included: Nvidia (NVDA) at least $1 million, Microsoft (MSFT) at least $1 million, Apple (AAPL) at least $1 million, Amazon (AMZN) at least $1 million, Broadcom (AVGO) at least $1 million, in addition, multiple accounts respectively increased holdings in Google parent company Alphabet by at least $1 million.
Disclosure documents also show that Nvidia brought Trump $2,501-$5,000 in capital gains, and individual stocks such as Oracle, Qualcomm, Thermo Fisher also recorded capital gains.
Investing in Intel and MP Materials Also Hit Policy Windfalls
In addition to AI leaders, US media also pointed out that Trump's account operations on the following two companies also attracted market attention:
Intel (INTC)
On August 18, 2025, Trump's account bought at least $250,000 worth of Intel stock. A few days later, the US government announced it would obtain about 10% equity in Intel to support company restructuring. Since then, as of the close of business this Thursday, Intel's stock price has surged cumulatively over 380% since late August last year.
MP Materials (MP)
In the early stage of Trump's presidency last year, his account began to buy shares of US rare earth enterprise MP Materials. In eight transactions ending in May 2025, accounts under Trump's name bought shares of this rare earth producer valued between $22,000 and $155,000. In July of the same year, the US Department of Defense announced spending $400 million to buy preferred shares of the company, after exercising rights will hold 15% of the company's shares, becoming the company's largest shareholder, promoting the establishment of a US domestic rare earth industry chain.
Financial disclosure shows that Trump subsequently sold part of MP holdings, realizing $100,000-$1 million in capital gains for the full year.
White House Response: President Does Not Participate in Transactions Himself
Facing external questions, the White House emphasized again: Trump himself does not manage the investment account, all transactions are responsible by independent financial advisors, and most of his assets have been placed in a trust managed by Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: "The President and his family have never, and will never, engage in any conflict of interest behavior."
However, ethics organizations believe that while the president has not set up a truly independent "blind trust", the investment account happens to frequently trade related stocks around the time major policies are launched, which may still damage public trust in the independence of policy making.
In fact, this is not the first time Trump's securities investments have triggered controversy. Financial disclosure documents published last year also showed that his securities account held stocks of many large technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, and widely configured the US stock market through ETFs.
But this year's first public complete transaction record, for the first time links these holding changes with key time nodes such as tariff policy, AI strategy, and industry support policy, making the relationship between Trump's personal wealth management and public policy once again become the focus of Washington's attention.
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