Here’s a number worth sitting with: retail investors in the $TRUMP meme coin have lost somewhere between $4 billion and $4.5 billion since the token launched in January 2025. That’s not a rounding error. That’s roughly the economic output of a small island nation, evaporating mostly from the wallets of ordinary people who bought into the hype.
Meanwhile, Trump and his associated entities reportedly collected over $1.4 billion in royalties, licensing fees, and token sales during that same period. The math is uncomfortable.
A very short rise and a very long fall
$TRUMP launched in January 2025, and for a moment, it looked like something. The token hit a market cap of approximately $15 billion and a price near $72. By mid-2026, that market cap had collapsed to around $400 million, a decline of more than 90% from peak.
Between 764,000 and 1.48 million wallets are now sitting in the red, according to research findings on the token’s distribution. Insiders connected to Trump-linked entities captured an estimated $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in gains by exiting positions before the broader collapse. Trump himself earned approximately $635 million in royalties and licensing from $TRUMP, plus over $500 million from related token sales.
