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IntermediateLesson 4 of 73 min read

TRUMP: an official coin with 80% held back

The US president's own coin, launched January 17, 2025: why most of the supply sat with two companies, what that meant for the price, and why a real coin is not the same as a good buy.

Words in this lesson7

On this pageWhat happened1/6
  1. What happened
  2. What came next
  3. The two sides
  4. What a careful trader would have checked
  5. The lesson
  6. Quiz

What happened

On January 17, 2025, three days before his inauguration, Donald Trump announced an official memecoin called TRUMP on Solana. This one was real: his own accounts posted it. Within two days it was one of the most valuable coins in crypto. Whatever you think of the politics, the trading lesson is the same, and it is written on the coin's own website.

TRUMP has 1 billion tokens. On day one, 200 million could trade. The site says 80% belongs to two Trump-linked companies, CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight, released on a three-year schedule. The same site says the coins are not meant to be an investment.

Example

Market cap and FDV at the top

TRUMP's highest price was about $73.43, early on January 19, 2025 (UTC).

  1. Step 1: 200 million tokens were trading, so the market cap was about $14.7 billion.
  2. Step 2: Counting all 1 billion tokens, the fully diluted value was about $73 billion.
  3. Step 3: Four out of every five tokens had not reached the market yet. Each unlock would add tokens someone was free to sell.
  4. Step 4: Buyers at the top were paying a price that treated that future supply as if it did not exist.
Top 10 holders: spread out versus concentratedTwo example bar charts of the ten biggest holders of a coin. On the left, spread out: the biggest holder has 3 percent and the top ten together hold 16 percent, so no one wallet can crash the price alone. On the right, concentrated: the biggest holder has 22 percent and the top ten hold 70 percent, so a few wallets can dump on everyone else. Example numbers; the pool is not counted.Spread outTop 10 hold 16%13%22.5%32%41.8%51.5%61.4%71.2%81.1%90.8%100.7%ConcentratedTop 10 hold 70%122%214%39%46%55%64%73%83%92%102%Example numbers. The pool is not counted.
When a few holders own most of a coin, their choices set the price. On TRUMP, two companies held 80% under a lock.

What came next

  • First hours: most of the gains went to people who bought below $1, the analytics firm Nansen later found.
  • Jan 19, 2025 (UTC): the top. That same weekend a second official coin, MELANIA, launched.
  • March 2025: the Financial Times estimated the people behind the coin had made at least $350 million from token sales and fees.
  • April 18, 2025: the first big unlock, about 40 million tokens.
  • April 23, 2025: the top 220 holders are offered a dinner with the president. The price jumps about 50%. The dinner is held on May 22.
  • End of June 2026: Nansen counts about 989,000 wallets in loss, around two-thirds of all buyers, with $3.81 billion lost. About 492,000 wallets are in profit.
  • Oct 29, 2026: about $1.57, roughly 98% below the top. The lowest price so far, $1.37, came in August 2026.

The two sides

Critics, including several US senators, called the coin and the holders' dinner corruption, and bills were filed to stop senior officials profiting from crypto. The White House said the president had made the United States the crypto capital of the world, and Trump said his money is managed by outside institutions.

What a careful trader would have checked

  • Circulating supply against total supply. Market cap counts what trades today. FDV shows what is still coming.
  • The unlock schedule. Unlock dates are public in advance. Mark them, because each one adds sellers.
  • Who earns on every trade. On many launches the people behind the coin take a fee on every swap, so volume is income for them whether the price rises or falls.
  • Your entry. Buying in the first hours and buying the top were two completely different trades.
Example

What buying the top cost (a made-up buyer, real prices)

$1,000 at $73.43 buys about 13.6 TRUMP. At $1.57 in October 2026, that is about $21.

The lesson

Read the supply page before the headline. A coin with most of its tokens locked away can show a market cap that looks reasonable while the full value is five times bigger. The buyers who did best got in during the first hours. Most who arrived on the news paid for supply that was still on its way.

Next: LIBRA, a president's post and a drained pool

Check what you learned

0 of 4 answered

  1. Question 1At launch, how much of TRUMP's 1 billion supply could trade?
  2. Question 2TrickyAt the top, TRUMP's market cap was about $14.7 billion. What was its fully diluted value?
  3. Question 3Why do unlock dates matter to a buyer?
  4. Question 4TrickyTRUMP was posted by Trump's own accounts. What did that prove?

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This guide is for learning. It is not financial advice. Most memecoins go to zero and most people who trade them lose money. Only ever trade what you can afford to lose.