A group of investors made about $100 million trading Melania Trump's meme coin shortly before its launch on January 19. These conclusions were reached by the Financial Times team.
The authors of the material are confident that the launch of the MELANIA token was accompanied by insider trading. A group of crypto traders purchased Melania Trump's meme coin for $2.6 million just minutes before the official announcement of the coin's trading launch. After the trading began, the cryptocurrency's price skyrocketed by 550%. According to the Financial Times, insiders sold their positions in less than 12 hours after acquisition.
"In total, 24 accounts purchased 16.7 million out of 200 million $MELANIA tokens planned for sale at launch," writes the Financial Times.
Journalists also note that tokens worth $900,000 were purchased in the first 42 seconds after the launch. These purchases may also be related to insiders.
As a result, only traders who received the coins first and sold them on the very first day of trading were able to earn on Melania. The maximum value of the meme coin was recorded on January 20, 2025 — $13.73. Immediately after, the cryptocurrency began to fall. At the time of writing the review, MELANIA is trading at $0.31, which is 97% cheaper than the peak.$TRUMP $XRP $SOL 
