Shares in Donald Trump's company, which owns Truth Social, plummeted on Wednesday as betting odds of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' victory increased after the heated presidential debate.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, trading under the ticker symbol DJT, plummeted more than 13% to $16.16 a share, the lowest price since it merged with blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. in March.
Trump owns more than 50% of TMTG, giving the company a market capitalization of $3.7 billion.
The company's shares are popular among individual investors, who are sensitive to a possible victory in November's presidential election.
Stocks have fallen nearly 60% since mid-July as Ms Harris became the Democratic nominee instead of President Biden, increasing her chances of defeating President Trump.
Her chances of winning the White House have increased again after the vice president put Trump on the defensive during Tuesday's 90-minute debate broadcast on ABC.
After the debate, bets on Harris winning rose to 56% from 53%, while bets on Trump winning fell to 48% from 52%, according to betting site PredictIt.
Ms Harris' candidacy was also given a boost by pop mogul Taylor Swift, who posted to her 280 million Instagram followers that she would be voting for the Democratic candidate.
President Trump will soon be able to sell his shares when a lockup agreement with Digital World expires in two weeks, and investors are concerned that the sale could send shares further downwards.
Trump's poor performance in the debate also sent cryptocurrency prices lower on Wednesday, as he was pitching his case as a crypto candidate at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference.
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, fell about 2.5%, while Ether dropped 3.1%.
“With Harris' performance in the debates and possibly an endorsement from Taylor Swift, it's slightly less likely that a crypto-friendly Trump would make it into the White House.” Susanna Streeter, head of finance and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, told Reuters:.
Shares in cryptocurrency miners Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital and U.S.-listed Hut8 were down between 2.0% and 4.2% on Wednesday afternoon.
Software company and BTC buyer MicroStrategy fell 1.8%.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global fell 2.8%, while blockchain farm operator Bitfarms dropped 3.7%.
“Cryptocurrencies were not directly mentioned in the US presidential debates, but market sentiment is tilting in favor of Kamala Harris,” Valentin Fournier, an analyst at research firm BRN, told Reuters.
“This creates a slightly less optimistic outlook for Bitcoin compared to the more enthusiastic predictions made by Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 conference.”
