April 9, 2025 · The tariff pause

APR 2 · PM

The president announces "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs from the Rose Garden. The order is signed and published the same day. Source: White House Presidential Action

APR 3 – 8

The S&P bleeds for four sessions. Talk of a trade war. Then the public record starts to fill up: during the sell-off, a sitting member of Congress buys shares in 17 companies — combined disclosed range up to $285,000. On April 8, the same account sells a U.S. Treasury Bill ($50–100K) and reallocates into AMD, Amazon, Blackstone, FedEx, JPMorgan, Lululemon, Nike, Palantir, Qualcomm, Southern Copper, and Tesla. Public filings, House Clerk's website. Sources: House Clerk PTR #20029138 (PDF); AP News

APR 9 · 9:37 AM

The president posts on Truth Social:

"THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT"

Verbatim. Archived. 9:37 AM EDT, April 9, 2025.

Source: Archived post, trumpstruth.org · Original

APR 9 · ~9:39 AM

Roughly two minutes after the post, per options-flow analytics firm Unusual Whales: ~8,000 SPY $499 same-day calls print at an average $7.54. That contract closes the day at $46.58 — +518%. A separate block of ~20,000 SPY $600 calls (Sept 19 expiry) prints at an average $3.50 and closes at $7.70 — +120%. Source: Unusual Whales Substack

APR 9 · MID-DAY

Congressional trading continues. The same filer purchases positions in Adobe, AMD, Apple, Applied Materials, ASML, Cummins, Devon Energy, Merck, NVIDIA, and Palantir on April 9 (notification filed April 10). Ten more names. Source: House Clerk PTR #20029138 (PDF)

APR 9 · ~1:00 PM

Roughly eighteen minutes before anything is announced publicly: two blocks totaling ~20,000 SPY $504 same-day calls print at an average $5.72. Per Unusual Whales, those contracts later reach a high of $41.02 — +617% — for a paper gain of approximately $70.6 million from entry to peak. Options-flow data cited in the financial press notes SPY, QQQ, and Nasdaq-linked call volumes "started spiking" around 1:00 PM ET. Sources: Unusual Whales; Benzinga

APR 9 · 1:18 PM

The president posts on Truth Social: "I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately." The pause becomes public information. Source: Truth Social post, 1:18 PM ET

APR 9 · CLOSE

S&P 500 closes +9.52% at 5,456.90 — the largest one-day gain since 2008. Dow +7.87%. Nasdaq +12.16%. Russell 2000 +8.66%. Bitcoin rallies from an intraday low of $74,567 to $82,350 — +7% on the day. Sources: Reuters; Morgan Stanley Move Report; CNBC

What happened after.

April 11. Six Senate Democrats — Warren, Schumer, Kelly, Gallego, Schiff, and Wyden — send a letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins requesting an investigation into potential insider trading or market manipulation tied to the tariff announcement and pause. The letter cites the 9:37 AM and 1:18 PM Truth Social posts by timestamp. Full letter (PDF).

Same day. Rep. Veronica Escobar sends a letter to the House Committee on Ethics requesting review of whether members of Congress had access to non-public tariff-policy information. Full letter (PDF).

July 24. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center publishes an analysis of every Periodic Transaction Report filed between the February 13 reciprocal-tariff memo and the April 9 pause. Their finding: 53 members of Congress (40 House, 13 Senate) reported 2,200+ stock transactions, aggregate disclosed value $34.9 million to $140 million. Most-traded name: Microsoft, $7.0M–$29.4M. The report is explicit: "we do not allege that any individual transaction represents insider trading." Full report (PDF).

Requests for investigation were filed. As of the time of this writing, no SEC enforcement action, formal investigation confirmation, or lawsuit has been publicly identified.

9:37 AM. "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT"

What happened after.

Primary sources

Reputable secondary sources