Suspicious trades must be investigated

Since U.S. President Donald Trump re-assumed the presidency in January 2025, there have been many allegations that individuals close to the Trump administration have used non-public information in order to earn huge profits on the stock market. American media outlets have remained surprisingly quiet on the issue, but the BBC has conducted its own investigation, and what it found is stunning.

The U.K.-based network reviewed trade data from multiple financial markets, correlated against announcements by Trump. It found, as many have suspected, that a series of significant stock transactions have occurred shortly before statements by the president, resulting in significant profits for those who engaged in those transactions.

The report says that on April 2 of last year, for example, Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on goods from dozens of nations. One week later, on April 9, there was a sudden increase in investments in a fund that tracks the S&P 500, despite the market having just endured seven straight days of losses. Just 18 minutes later, Trump announced a pause in his tariffs. One minute after that, the stock market began what the BBC characterizes as a “historic surge,” earning big profits for those who had invested minutes earlier.

In February of this year, six accounts were created on Polymarket (a decentralized prediction market platform through which users trade shares on the outcomes of real-world events) with each placing a wager that a U.S. strike on Iran would occur on Feb. 28. According to the BBC, the accounts earned a total of $1.2 million when the attacks happened that day. It also reports that five of the six accounts have made no further bets on Polymarket since then, but that the remaining account earned another $163,000 by correctly betting that a U.S.-Iran ceasefire would occur by April 7, later announced by Trump on that day.

On March 9 of this year, one or more traders “shorted” oil — betting the price would go down — an hour before Trump told CBS News that “The war is very complete, pretty much.” Immediately after those comments were aired, oil prices plunged by approximately 25 per cent and those investors reaped millions of dollars in profits.

On March 23, two days after Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s infrastructure, there was an unusual surge in the purchase of oil company stocks. Fourteen minutes later, the president posted on social media that there had been “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” with the Iran government regarding a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION” to hostilities. The price of oil dropped by 11 per cent one minute later, causing an immediate rise in the stock market. Whoever made those trades minutes earlier earned millions of dollars.

Those are just a sample of the questionable transactions flagged by the BBC. Other individuals have identified many more instances when unusual increases in stock market activity were followed by events or White House announcements that resulted in large profits for those investors hours, or even minutes, later. One observer has identified a dozen instances in which millions of dollars were invested shortly before Trump announcements, earning that investor massive profits every single time.

Some may wonder why this form of activity is a concern. They may even argue that one of the perks of being a business or government insider is the opportunity to make money from information the public is unaware of. Such arguments ignore the fact that insider trading is not a victimless crime.

It is illegal in nations around the globe because it creates an unfair advantage for individuals with non-public information to earn profits, to the detriment of ordinary investors. That unfairness fuels the public’s perception that markets are “rigged” in favour of insiders, which erodes trust in financial systems and discourages investment. That, in turn, causes harm to the broader economy.

Given that reality, it is discouraging that the suspicious investments appear to be continuing. The U.S. justice system is largely ignoring the issue, but this is a global problem that has impacted investors around the world. If American authorities will not investigate the insider trading allegations, agencies in other nations, including Canada, must do so — and the sooner the better.