Trump buys surging stocks, dumps Coinbase

U.S. President Donald Trump barely touched crypto stocks in August, even as he went big on tech.

A new financial disclosure lists 517 trades in August. 

Trump bought Strategy and made a big purchase of Meta. He sold Coinbase and several chip and cybersecurity stocks.

The trades were reported in an OGE Form 278-T filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. 

It is a form federal officials use to list stock buys and sales worth more than $1,000. 

For context, it gives values as ranges, not exact amounts.

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Trump makes small crypto moves

Trump's crypto-linked activity was limited to two trades on Aug. 10.

He bought shares of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, a software company that has made Bitcoin its main treasury asset. 

The purchase was in the range of $1,001-$15,000.

He also sold $1,001-$15,000 worth of Coinbase shares, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. The filing does not establish whether he sold his entire holding.

No direct crypto or Bitcoin exchange-traded fund purchase appears in this transaction list. That does not mean Trump had no such holdings, since this report lists transactions rather than a complete investment portfolio.

Meta purchase leads tech trades

The biggest tech transaction in the filing was a Meta purchase worth $5,000,001 to $25,000,000 on Aug. 21. 

Meta, parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was bought three more times in smaller amounts and sold once, for $1,001 to $15,000, on Aug. 10.

MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 29: Visitors take pictures by a sign posted in front of Meta headquarters on January 29, 2025 in Menlo Park, California. Meta will report fourth-quarter earnings today after the closing bell. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Getty

Trump also traded other big tech stocks. Here is the biggest move in each:

• Microsoft: biggest purchase was $1,000,001-$5,000,000 on Aug. 10. The filing lists five purchases and one $1,001-$15,000 sale.

• Nvidia: bought five times, including $500,001-$1,000,000 on Aug. 17. Sold $500,001-$1,000,000 on Aug. 21, then bought $1,001-$15,000 on Aug. 24 and $15,001-$50,000 on Aug. 26.

• Amazon: bought $1,001-$15,000 on Aug. 10, $250,001-$500,000 on Aug. 17 and $15,001-$50,000 on Aug. 26. No sales are listed.

• Alphabet:  two purchases of $100,001-$250,000 each on Aug. 17. One sale of $1,001-$15,000 on Aug. 24.

• Palantir: biggest purchase was $50,001-$100,000 on Aug. 17. Two smaller purchases and no sales are listed.

The filing also lists a $1,000,001 to $5,000,000 purchase of SpaceX bonds on Aug. 18, paying 5.35% until July 2031. Bonds mean he lent money to SpaceX. He did not buy a stake in the company.

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Chip stocks see broad selling

The filing shows a flurry of activity in semiconductor and technology stocks, with several large sales on Aug. 21 followed by smaller trades in Broadcom, Nvidia and Dell Technologies later in the month.

• Broadcom: sold $500,001 to $1,000,000 on Aug. 21, plus one small sale and one small purchase later in the month.

• Dell Technologies: sold $500,001 to $1,000,000 on Aug. 21 and $15,001 to $50,000 on Aug. 28. No purchases.

How the stocks have moved since the disclosed trades

Meta and Strategy have risen sharply since the trade dates in the filing. The gains were smaller for Microsoft. The two stocks Trump sold, Nvidia and Coinbase, have also risen.

• Meta: up 30.7% to $718.73 from $549.90 on Aug. 21, the day of his biggest Meta purchase.

• Microsoft: up 3.1% to $521.95 from $506.06 on Aug. 10, the day of his biggest Microsoft purchase.

• Strategy: up 54.3% to $150.20 from $97.33 on Aug. 10, the day he bought its shares.

• Nvidia: up 7.2% to $230.13 from $214.72 on Aug. 21, the day of his large sale. He also bought Nvidia in August.

• Coinbase: up 17.5% to $174.67 from $148.68 on Aug. 10, the day he sold its shares.

Trump’s crypto and AI stance

The August trades came as Trump continued to publicly embrace the crypto industry.

On Aug. 19, he called on Congress to pass a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, which would set clearer rules for digital assets.

Trump made the comments at a White House event attended by crypto executives including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

Trump has also made AI and the broader technology sector a priority for his administration.

On Sept. 29, he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to use “Super Intelligence” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” in official communications, arguing that the newer term better reflects the capabilities of today's technology.

Trump doubled down on the terminology on Oct. 8. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that the White House considers anyone who uses “Artificial Intelligence” instead of “Super Intelligence” to be “THE ENEMY!”

Donald Trump's Truth Social post from October 8, 2026.  (Source: Truth Social)

Trump's crypto income remains much larger

Trump's small crypto trades are only part of the bigger picture. His biggest crypto earnings are from businesses tied to his family.

In his 2025 annual financial disclosure reported July this year, Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from crypto ventures, according to Reuters.

Much of that came from World Liberty Financial, the crypto business co-founded by Trump and his sons, as well as sales of the Trump meme coin.

The filing showed almost $800 million in income tied to World Liberty Financial, including more than $520 million from token sales and more than $250 million from selling interests in the business. 

Trump also reported $635 million from sales of his meme coins.

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