One of the most powerful people on the planet has been blocked from selling one of his most prized assets.

Until now.

The restraints preventing former President Donald Trump from selling shares in his social media company are set to expire as soon as Thursday afternoon.

This will free Trump – and other insiders at Trump Media & Technology Group – to sell shares in the controversial company that owns Truth Social if they wish.

It’s a major moment for Trump Media, whose share price has fallen dramatically since going public in March.

The former president is the face of the company and its dominant shareholder. The risk that Trump and other insiders could rush for the exits has been hanging over the stock for weeks.

However, Trump has declared that he isn’t going anywhere, telling reporters last week: “No, I’m not selling. No, I love it.” Those comments sent Trump Media’s share price skyrocketing, for a few hours at least.

It’s a big decision for Trump, who has seen the value of his stake plunge to $1.8 billion. As recently as four months ago, it was worth $6.2 billion.

Even if Trump wanted to unload all or most of his shares, he would be limited by the reality of the situation: Someone who owns 57% of the stock can’t simply call his broker and sell all – or even most of the shares – without tanking the share price.

“He’s smarter than that,” said Michael Stegemoller, a finance professor at Baylor University. “Obviously he wouldn’t want to dump all of his shares onto the market. It would be a massive supply of shares. It would not go well for the share price – or him.”

‘Utterly tied up in one person’

Trump Media is inextricably linked to the former president.

Not only does Trump own a controlling stake in the company, but his initials are the stock ticker symbol (DJT) and he is the most popular user on the main product.

“This is a company whose value is so utterly tied up in one person. It’s pretty strange. Not even with Apple and Steve Jobs did we see something like this,” said Stegemoller.

That’s why it’s so crucial that Trump has signaled he isn’t selling.

“People think that I’m leaving. That’s why they’re down, ‘cause it’s different if I leave. But I’m not leaving,” Trump told reporters last week.

Disclosure required

If Trump changes his mind and decides to sell even some shares, he will be required to disclose that transaction publicly within two business days.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires shareholders owning more than 10% of a company’s shares to file a Form 4 detailing stock sales.

Lock-up restrictions like the ones facing Trump are typical in deals like the one that brought Trump Media public last spring.