Some US investors made profitable stock trades minutes before President Donald Trump deferred the reciprocal tariffs last week, fueling suspicion of insider trading and market manipulation.
The US stock market crashed last Thursday through Friday as Trump was determined to impose exorbitant tariffs on scores of nations. However, benchmark indexes surged to set the biggest single-day rally after he announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs via a Truth Social post on 9th April.
In the 18 minutes before Trump’s announcement, trading volumes on popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the QQQ, SPY, and TQQQ soared fast, raising suspicion of unusual activity.
MarketWatch data revealed that in the five-minute interval block just 18 minutes before Trump’s tariff U-turn post, trading volume in QQQ increased from almost 214,000 shares per five-minute block to roughly 1.5 million shares. The timing of the trades immediately sparked speculations on subreddits, with users discussing if Trump is orchestrating the ‘biggest financial fraud in history.’
Democrats Call for Stock Trading Reforms
Investors also expressed frustration at the volatile markets because they could not determine where to invest their money. Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats appear to have picked up on the developments, with California Senator Adam Schiff commenting on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip-flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks and profit at the public’s expense?’
While Congress members can participate in the stock market, the latest market trades renewed conversations around insider trading and market manipulation. Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi has long faced scrutiny over her perfect trades, which generated over 600% returns over the past decade. However, her 2025 trades appear to be trading deep in the red.
Elsewhere, Republican congresswoman and Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene recently disclosed buying the market dip, scooping up shares of 17 US companies between the 3rd and 4th of April. Her investment moves came right when the US stock market sharply declined on Trump’s tariff announcements. Greene bought stocks across industries from tech, semiconductor, and logistics to apparel, banking, construction, and utilities as investors offloaded them in panic. A few days later, all these stocks climbed fast on Trump’s tariff pause, turning her cheap stock buys into serious profits.
Greene told the Associated Press that the stock investments were made as part of a ‘fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments.’ She added that these trades are reported with full transparency and involve no wrongdoing.
In response to these trades, Senator Ruben Gallego called for a federal probe into stock trading activity potentially executed by investors close to the White House.
‘President Trump’s decision to ease most tariffs predictably caused the financial markets to skyrocket after crashing and undergoing wild fluctuations,’ Gallego had stated in a letter. ‘The President, his family, and his advisors are uniquely positioned to be privy to and take advantage of nonpublic information to inform their investment decisions.’
‘I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor,’ New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X. ‘It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.’
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