"I'm Now Broke": Meet the Investors Who Lost Billions Buying Trump Stocks and Crypto
## From Trump Media to the $TRUMP meme coin, a staggering $7 billion in retail wealth has evaporated. The president walked away with billions. His supporters got the bill.
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### The Promise of "Winning"
In October 2021, Donald Trump unveiled a new business venture: Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. The pitch was simple: a "free speech" alternative to the social media giants that had barred him, backed by a loyal base of millions of supporters. Investors were invited to buy in via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Vadim Fistikan, a Washington State truck driver and three-time Trump voter, was one of them. He had built more than $100,000 in savings by his late twenties, eyeing a house near family in Florida. "I saw this whole Trump thing going on," he told Forbes. The SPAC's shares had jumped 1,650% in two days before falling 30%. To Fistikan, that wasn't a warning sign—it was a discount. "I'm like, 'I'm getting in,'" he said.
He invested $205,000. That investment is now worth $30,000.
"I'm now broke," Fistikan said. "I was on board since day one."
Fistikan isn't alone. Over the past four years, Trump's business ventures—his social media company, his crypto startup, and his meme coins—have delivered devastating losses to the retail investors who believed in him. According to a Forbes analysis, Trump-tied investments have wiped out an estimated **$7 billion** in investor wealth since 2021. The Trump family, meanwhile, walked away with **$1.9 billion** in cash, according to Forbes calculations, and still holds assets worth an additional $3.1 billion.
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### The Stock Collapse: Trump Media's 96% Plunge
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) was supposed to be the vehicle for a media revolution. Instead, it has become a cautionary tale about the dangers of hype-driven investing.
The company went public in March 2024, debuting on the Nasdaq at $70.90. The stock experienced a volatile first year, falling to around $13 six months after its debut, then surging back to about $40 for Trump's second inauguration. Since then, it has collapsed. As of late June 2026, shares hit an all-time low of $7.06, down more than 46% year-to-date and roughly 96% from its all-time high. The company has lost more than $6 billion in market value.
The stock's decline reflects the company's deteriorating fundamentals. In the first three months of 2026, Trump Media reported a net loss of **$405.9 million**. For the full year 2025, the loss was $712 million, fueled largely by unrealized losses on cryptocurrency and digital assets. Revenue from advertising on Truth Social, meanwhile, was just $3.7 million for all of 2025. The company is not a thriving social media business; it's a money-losing entity that has pivoted to crypto and nuclear fusion.
Economist Peter Schiff has called the stock's decline "a harbinger of what's to come," a cautionary tale for investors betting on hype rather than fundamentals.
#### The Ripple Effect: Alt5 Sigma and AI Financial
The Trump Media stock wasn't the only public-market disaster. A little-known company called Alt5 Sigma—now renamed AI Financial Corp.—provides another window into the wreckage. In August 2025, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. appeared at the Nasdaq to celebrate a partnership with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto venture. Alt5 agreed to acquire $1.5 billion worth of crypto tokens from World Liberty in a complex transaction that entitled the Trump family to roughly $500 million in proceeds.
Investors who bought into the deal have been decimated. Alt5's stock, which closed at $8.97 the day before the partnership was announced, fell to 66 cents by June 2026—a 93% loss. The company has warned investors that it may not be able to continue as a going concern. It's on its third CEO and third outside auditor since the deal was announced.
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### The Crypto Carnage: 1 Million Investors Lost $5.5 Billion on the $TRUMP Coin
If the stock was a disaster, the crypto bets have been even worse.
In January 2025, just three days before Trump's second inauguration, he launched the $TRUMP meme coin. "It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!" Trump posted on social media. "Join my very special Trump community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW!"
That advice cost investors billions.
According to a report by cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen, **988,905** buyers of the $TRUMP meme coin have lost money as of the end of June—roughly two out of every three buyers. Their cumulative losses total **$3.81 billion**. The coin, which peaked at $75.35, was trading at $1.76 as of July 3—down 97%.
The math is brutal: a small number of insiders made a fortune—45 early-deployment wallets earned $1.2 billion, according to a report cited by Democratic senators. "For every dollar insiders earned, retail investors lost $20".
Trump, meanwhile, walked away with **$636 million** in royalties from the same coin. He profited whether the price went up or down, collecting returns whenever anyone traded the tokens.
Nicholas Pinto, a frequent crypto trader who voted for Trump, invested roughly $500,000 in the $TRUMP coin. He's now lost about half of that. "He is leveraging the power of being president to launch currencies, when he seems trustworthy in the public's eye," Pinto told The New York Times. "It is kind of incredible. It is almost a legal scam".
The losses extend beyond the $TRUMP coin. World Liberty Financial's $WLFI token has fallen 82% since September. Melania Trump's meme coin is down 99%. Shares of American Bitcoin, another Trump-linked venture, are down 95%.
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### Why Supporters Keep Buying
The investors who lost their savings aren't professional day traders. Many are ordinary Americans—truck drivers, veterans, retirees—who trusted Trump's business acumen and his promise to make them rich.
Chad Nedohin, a worship leader who once served as an unofficial "captain" of Trump Media's retail shareholders, now calls the company a vehicle for enriching the president and his inner circle. "We're just poor cattle to them," he told Forbes.
The math of Trump's ventures is simple: he has structured them so that his family profits regardless of performance. He collects royalties, transaction fees, and equity stakes while his supporters bear the risk. The $TRUMP coin's website warned buyers that the token was "not intended to be an investment opportunity," but few read the fine print.
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### Frequently Asked Questions
**Q: How much money did retail investors lose on Trump Media stock?**
A: Trump Media shares are down 96% from their peak, wiping out more than $6 billion in market value since shortly after the 2024 election.
**Q: How much did investors lose on the $TRUMP meme coin?**
A: Nearly 1 million investors lost a combined **$3.81 billion** on the coin, according to Nansen data. The coin has dropped 97% from its peak.
**Q: How much did Trump personally make from his crypto ventures?**
A: Trump's financial disclosure for 2025 shows he made at least $636 million from the $TRUMP meme coin and hundreds of millions more from World Liberty Financial, totaling more than $1.9 billion from his business ventures that year, according to Forbes calculations.
**Q: What is World Liberty Financial?**
A: A crypto company co-founded by Trump and his sons, Eric and Donald Jr., in 2024. The Trump family is entitled to **75% of the proceeds** from its token sales. It has generated roughly $500 million in proceeds for the family.
**Q: Is there any regulatory oversight of these ventures?**
A: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced in February 2025 that it would no longer scrutinize meme coin deals, effectively giving Trump's crypto ventures a free pass. Legal experts believe the ventures could still face class-action lawsuits from investors.
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### Conclusion: The Trump Tax
The devastation is staggering: nearly a million investors lost money on the $TRUMP coin, retail shareholders watched Trump Media stock plummet 96%, and ordinary Americans who trusted the president's business acumen have been left holding the bag. Meanwhile, the Trump family walked away with **$1.9 billion** in cash, according to Forbes calculations, and the president's annual financial disclosure shows he made at least $636 million from his crypto ventures alone.
Chad Nedohin, the former "captain" of Trump Media's retail shareholders, put it bluntly: "We're just poor cattle to them. He doesn't care about anyone".
For the millions who believed Trump's promises and invested in his ventures, the lesson has been costly: in the Trump economy, the house always wins.
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### Disclaimer
**IMPORTANT:** This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. The information contained herein is based on publicly available sources and reflects the author's understanding as of the publication date. Market conditions, stock prices, and the value of cryptocurrencies are subject to rapid change. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The views expressed in this article are not intended as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or cryptocurrency.
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*Published: July 6, 2026*
**Tags:** Trump stock, Trump Media, DJT stock, Trump crypto, TRUMP coin, meme coin losses, retail investors, Trump losses, Truth Social, World Liberty Financial, Trump family wealth, investor losses, stock market crash, crypto crash, Forbes investigation, Nansen data
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