Trump Media stock surges as election betting odds shift, Truth Social launches streaming site

Shares of Trump Media closed up more than 18% on Monday, extending the Truth Social owner's dramatic recovery from recent stock price lows and adding hundreds of millions of dollars to Donald Trump's on-paper net worth.

The recent DJT surge came as multiple online election betting markets appeared to show betting odds shifting in Trump's favor, after weeks of tilting toward the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Monday's surge also coincided with Trump Media's launch of a new site for its TV streaming app, Truth+.

Trump Media was trading above $30 per share at its intraday peak, and closed at $29.95.

The stock has experienced a wild flurry of trading in recent sessions, with shares being exchanged at multiple times the company's 30-day average volume. More than 57 million shares traded hands Monday.

In the past week, bets on the presidential election outcome hosted by contract market Kalshi and prediction trading platforms Polymarket and PredictIt all showed the odds of a Trump victory growing.

Those online gambling platforms, which are not based on methodologically sound data, shifted despite the latest polls at the national level and in key swing states continuing to show a neck-and-neck race.

Analysts have long suggested that many of Trump Media's retail investors are fans of the former president, and they are buying and selling the stock as a way to support him or bet on his odds of retaking the White House.

That dynamic could help explain how the company behind Truth Social boasts a market capitalization of almost $6 billion, and yet has a comparatively small user base and brings in little revenue.

Trump owns nearly 57% of the company's stock — worth around $3.4 billion at Monday's closing share price. He has vowed not to sell his stake, which currently makes up more than half of his on-paper net worth, according to Forbes.

Meanwhile, Trump Media on Monday morning announced the launch of a separate website for its in-platform streaming service, Truth+.

While a slimmer version of Truth+ already exists on Truth Social, the new site offers the "full range" of the company's streaming programming, Trump Media said in a press release.

The site says it offers more than 1,000 "new movies and series," including exclusive content. The company's stated goal is to expand Truth+ to iOS devices and other TV-connected platforms, while making the service "uncancellable by Big Tech."

But most of the film and TV offerings appear to have been released years ago. And nearly all of the available movies are also on Tubi, another free streaming video platform.

Some of the content also appears to have been produced using artificial intelligence tools.

A 40-minute "documentary" on Al Capone, for instance, comprises little more than a slideshow of clearly AI-generated photos, accompanied by an AI voiceover and a repetitive music track. It purports to be directed by John Smith and written by Michael Smith.

That piece, "Al Capone: The Facts About Al Capone," is currently featured on the Truth+ site's "Selected content" carousel.