The Bloomberg Terminal? Just a middleman! What the president provides is the primary source of information.

By: Azuma

Trump has once again carried out a maneuver that surpasses public understanding.

The Financial Times reported that Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is exploring the commercialization of real-time information flows on the Truth Social platform, planning to offer low-latency data services to institutional clients at prices as high as $100,000 per month. Institutions purchasing this service will be able to access Trump's latest posts faster than ordinary users, for tracking policy signals, market sentiment, and the potential impact of political events.

The time difference is the most valuable thing in the market

For investors focused on the U.S. market, Truth Social is not just an ordinary social platform. After the "Capitol Hill incident" in 2021, Trump was banned from mainstream social platforms like Twitter (now X) and Facebook, and subsequently, TMTG launched Truth Social, which Trump began using as his main channel for expression. Although Trump later restored his X account, his significant policy statements regarding tariffs, trade, foreign affairs, and regulation are still mostly prioritized for release on Truth Social, making the platform gradually the primary source for global investors tracking Trump's activities.

Even so, this still seems like a somewhat unbelievable business. After all, Truth Social is a public platform, and every post Trump makes can be seen by everyone within seconds. Since the information is public, why would any institution be willing to pay a high fee for it?

The answer is actually not difficult to understand. In the financial market, the most expensive thing has never been the information itself, but the time advantage in obtaining information earlier than others.

For ordinary users, seeing something a few seconds earlier is almost meaningless, but for quantitative funds, high-frequency trading firms, and some crypto trading teams, those few seconds can determine whether a trade is profitable or a loss. When the market has become accustomed to repricing assets based on Trump's every move, those who can access the information first have the opportunity to act first.

In other words, what TMTG is really selling is not a post, but a "presidential alpha."

The Trump Terminal surpassing Bloomberg Terminal

In fact, TMTG is not the first to think of this business.

On Wall Street, selling real-time data has long been an extremely mature business model. Whether it is Bloomberg, Reuters, or the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, they have long provided paid data services to institutions. From financial reports of listed companies, macroeconomic data, to stock transactions and order book changes, these institutions can almost always access this information earlier through dedicated lines or data interfaces with lower latency and higher stability.

It is worth noting that most of the information they sell is not "exclusive news" — the vast majority of information will ultimately be made public to the entire market. What is truly valuable is that institutions can receive this information a few milliseconds, a few hundred milliseconds, or even a few seconds faster than others; this time advantage often means trading opportunities and can directly determine the profit and loss of strategies.

TMTG is doing the same thing, and even taking it a step further — unlike traditional financial terminals like Bloomberg Terminal, which are merely collectors and distributors of information, Trump himself is the source of information. No matter how fast Bloomberg Terminal is, it essentially aggregates and transmits market information; what TMTG sells is exclusive priority access to every update Trump posts on Truth Social.

In other words, no matter how powerful Bloomberg Terminal is, it is merely a second-hand information dealer, while the "Trump Terminal" of the great leader is absolute primary intelligence.

Only Trump can make this money

Theoretically, every U.S. president, as well as leaders of other major countries, possesses a similar ability to influence the market.

From important appointments and dismissals to fiscal policies, from diplomatic games to war conflicts, the words and actions of leaders can sway global capital market pricing. However, Trump is perhaps the only one who has successfully packaged this influence into a business and openly sold it to Wall Street.

The important premise here is that Trump's primary information is indeed valuable enough.

In recent years, Trump's Truth Social has become an important information source for global investors. From tariff policies to trade negotiations, from cryptocurrency regulation to candidates for Federal Reserve chair, Trump's numerous posts have triggered significant fluctuations in U.S. stocks, the dollar, gold, and the crypto market. A series of trading strategies formed around expectations of Trump's policies, such as the Trump Trade and TACO Trade, further demonstrate that the market has already regarded his statements as a tradable "market factor."

But perhaps the more important reason is Trump himself. While most past U.S. presidents have viewed their political influence as a public resource, Trump tends to see influence as an asset that can be operated, magnified, and commercialized.

Looking back over the past few years, from NFTs, meme coins, to Truth Social, Truth.Fi, Trump Mobile, and now selling real-time data services from Truth Social to institutions, the product forms have constantly changed, but the underlying logic has remained unchanged — continuously transforming the "Trump" IP into commercially viable products that can be sold, subscribed to, and invested in.

For many traditional politicians, the identity of the president means power and the need to maintain distance from commercial interests; however, in Trump's view, there seems to be no inherent boundary between the two. As long as the market is willing to pay for influence, then influence itself can become a commodity.

In other words, it is not that Trump created the demand, but that he realized earlier than anyone else that "presidential influence" itself is also a type of asset that can be priced and sold.