Jeff Yass, founder of Susquehanna International Group, has been making waves in the stock market by buying and selling stocks at lightning speed to make a profit. The company specializes in gaining small amounts of money each time they trade, often in milliseconds. Recently, there have been accusations that Susquehanna may be funneling money to Donald Trump through their stake in a blank-check company that merged with Trump’s social media company.
However, Susquehanna has stated that they remain neutral on the stock and own other securities, like options, that offset their stock holdings. Their primary focus is on providing bids and offers in the market rather than evaluating the value of investments. The recently merged company trading under the ticker DJT owns Truth Social, where Trump has been active since being banned from Twitter in 2021.
Susquehanna’s role in the stock market is to provide liquidity and make trades rather than investing based on the underlying value of assets. Additionally, Susquehanna also has a private-equity and venture-capital arm and own a significant stake in TikTok which further speculation about Yass’s potential influence due to Trump’s changing stance on the social media platform. While some believe that Susquehanna may be manipulating the stock to benefit Trump, algorithmic market-makers and quant funds see it as a gauge of Trump supporters’ sentiment and are drawn to retail trading since it is often driven by individual investors rather than larger economic trends.
