SPAC's Digital World Acquisition Corp. Shares were briefly suspended from trading on Thursday due to sharp fluctuations, rising as much as 400% at one point in intraday trading and extremely heavy trading volume. It follows news that Trump plans to launch a new social media platform and go public with it.
By the close, the stock was up 356.83% at $45.50.
Digital World Acquisition was the most actively traded stock on Fidelity on Thursday, with more than 470 million DWAC shares changing hands during Thursday's trading session, compared with the company's 10-day average of 150000 shares, according to FactSet.
Trump's new company, Trump Media & Technology Group, said late on Wednesday that it and DWAC "have reached a final merger agreement for a business merger, which will make Trump Media Technology a listed company, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval."
Trump also said he would launch a platform called TRUTH Social to counter social media giant Facebook IncAnd TwitterWaiting for the company.
Digital World Acquisition was founded at the end of 2020 after Trump lost to Biden in his re-election campaign.
According to alternative research provider Quiver Quantitative, DWAC was one of the 10 most popular stocks in Reddit's WallStreetBets chat rooms on Thursday, even surpassing "meme" game stations.. That could be a sign that retail investors active on social media platforms are driving SPAC's rise.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.