Shares of ad-tech provider The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) ripped higher in early trading Thursday after a huge insider buy from the CEO and headlines about a potential ad‑partnership with OpenAI.

In early-session trade, The Trade Desk quickly became one of the biggest movers, with shares jumping roughly 20% as investors digested the news. 

Options activity accelerated alongside the move, with short‑dated contracts seeing heavy volume, according to Benzinga data, as the market implied only a modest single‑digit daily move.

TTD Insider Buy 

Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green disclosed buying about 6 million TTD shares this week, an acquisition worth roughly $150 million at recent prices. 

The transaction is being characterized as the largest insider stock buy in the company's history and is widely interpreted as a strong vote of confidence from management following a prolonged selloff in the name.

OpenAI Early Talks

At the same time, fresh headlines pointed to OpenAI being in early talks to use The Trade Desk's platform to help sell and target ads across its products, according to a report from The Information.  

With OpenAI's user base estimated in the hundreds of millions and the company reportedly pursuing multi‑billion‑dollar ambitions from advertising, traders are treating even the possibility of a formal partnership as a potential new demand engine for The Trade Desk's programmatic ad platform.

The move marks a huge sentiment shift for a stock that had dropped more than 60% over the past year amid concerns about slowing growth and softer guidance. 

The combination of a record insider buy and the prospect of landing a marquee AI‑driven customer has sparked a sharp reassessment of the bearish narrative, at least in the near term.

Commentary turned decisively bullish on retail forums and social platforms, with many traders highlighting the insider buying as a possible inflection point and pointing to "room to run" on the charts if momentum continues. 

Whether the enthusiasm proves durable will likely depend on how quickly, and how concretely, any OpenAI partnership and underlying ad‑spend materialize.

TTD Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, The Trade Desk shares were up 19.23% at $30.01 at the time of publication Thursday. 

Photo: Piotr Swat / Shutterstock