How Congress Stock Trade Disclosures Work
Members of the US House and Senate can own and trade stocks, but they have to tell the public. The rules come from the STOCK Act, and the reports it requires are called periodic transaction reports. This article explains what is in one, what is missing, and why the timing matters if you want to use the data.
What has to be reported
A member must report a purchase or sale of a stock, bond or similar asset when the trade is over $1,000. The report covers the member, and also a spouse or dependent child when they trade. The filing is due within 45 days of the trade.
Each line names the asset, whether it was a purchase or a sale, the date of the trade and a dollar range. The ranges are wide. A line might say $1,001 to $15,000 or $500,001 to $1,000,000, never an exact amount. That is why this site uses the midpoint of each range and calls volume figures estimates.
Where the filings live
House members file with the Clerk of the House. Senators file with the Senate Office of Public Records. Both publish the reports as documents, often scanned or formatted for people rather than for computers. Collectors turn them into rows. Filed Trades reads one of those collectors and now holds 36 trades from 4 members.
Why the delay matters
The 45 day window is the key fact for anyone who wants to follow these trades. A member can buy on day one and file on day 45. By then the stock may have moved a lot, in either direction, and the member may have sold already.
That is why this site does not start the clock on the trade date. A follower cannot act on information that is not public. Every return here begins on the first trading day after the filing, the earliest you could have bought as well.
What a filing does not tell you
- Why. A purchase might reflect a view on the company, a routine rebalance or a decision made by a financial adviser with full control of the account.
- How much. Only a range.
- What else the member holds. Reports list trades, not positions.
- Whether the ticker is right. Assets are described in words. Matching a description to a ticker is a data step that can fail, so this site scores a trade only when the source gives an exact ticker.
How to read the numbers on this site
Look at the filing delay first. A member who files in a week gives you far more to work with than one who files at the deadline. Then look at the number of scored buys behind any return. A handful of trades can produce a striking average by chance. The methodology page explains how each figure is built, and the leaderboards rank members only on trades made after a cutoff date.
Data as of 2026-09-23 (23 September 2026). This is information, not investment advice.