Trump's trading stays on the launchpad in August

October 09, 2026 (MLN): Two days before signing a sweeping policy to expand US commercial space transportation, President Donald Trump put up to $5mn into SpaceX debt.

The investment was part of more than 500 securities trades he reported for August, which also included a Meta Platforms purchase worth up to $25mn.

In total, the 517 deals were valued at roughly $74.3mn to $273.3mn, as the 18-page report lists each one within a value band rather than an exact amount, as per President Trump’s August financial disclosure according to CNBC.

On August 18, his accounts bought $1mn to $5mn of senior unsecured notes issued by Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company, carrying a 5.35% interest rate and maturing in July 2031.

Two days later, President Trump signed a national space transportation policy that calls for the US to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries a year by 2030.

It directs federal agencies to open government launch facilities to commercial users and to encourage private investment and public-private partnerships in space infrastructure.

As a big Pentagon contractor and NASA launch provider, SpaceX is well placed to gain from a larger commercial launch market.

President Trump's earlier exposure to the company was much smaller. His accounts bought shares worth $15,001 to $50,000 in both June, when SpaceX went public, and July, and sold $1,001 to $15,000 worth in July.

Trading cooled from the summer highs, with June and July each logging over 1,000 transactions, but the pace remained brisk.

Much of the activity was packed into August 21.

That day saw the month's largest trade, the $5mn to $25mn Meta purchase, alongside buys of $1mn to $5mn each in AT&T, ConocoPhillips, Abbott Laboratories, Netflix and Chevron.

The president also parted with $1mn to $5mn worth each of Advanced Micro Devices and Church & Dwight on the same day.

Holdings valued at $500,001 to $1mn in Boeing, Home Depot, T-Mobile, Datadog, Dell Technologies, Palo Alto Networks and Nvidia, among others, were also sold.

Heavy trading has marked President Trump's second term. His 2025 annual disclosure showed over 21,000 securities trades across eight accounts holding at least $858mn, against only 86 stock transactions disclosed in his first year in office, 2017.

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