How to track stock trades by members of Congress
What the STOCK Act requires
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 made it explicit that members of Congress may not use non-public information from their jobs to trade, and it created a fast-reporting rule for their trades. A Periodic Transaction Report (PTR) must be filed for each purchase, sale or exchange of a stock, bond or other security worth more than $1,000. It covers trades by the member, their spouse and their dependent children.
- Deadline: within 30 days of being notified of the transaction, and never more than 45 days after it happened.
- Late filing: a $200 late fee applies; many trades are still reported late.
- Amounts are ranges, not exact figures: $1,001–$15,000, $15,001–$50,000, $50,001–$100,000, $100,001–$250,000, $250,001–$500,000, $500,001–$1,000,000, and higher bands above $1 million.
- What's reported: the asset (often with its ticker), whether it was bought or sold, the transaction date, the amount range, and who owned it (the member, a spouse, a dependent or jointly).
Where to find the reports
- U.S. House: the Office of the Clerk's financial disclosure site publishes every PTR as a PDF, searchable by name and year.
- U.S. Senate: the Senate's electronic financial disclosure (eFD) site publishes Senate reports after you accept its terms of use.
- An aggregator: tools such as FundsGo download the filings, read the PDFs, match each asset to its ticker and show trades in one feed, with alerts when someone you follow files.
The catch: the information is late
Because members have up to 45 days to report, the price has often already moved by the time a trade is public. In FundsGo's data, the average gap between trade and disclosure is commonly two to four weeks, and some reports arrive months late. Anyone copying a disclosed trade can only buy after it became public, never at the member's own price.
That gap matters for results. See Does copying Congress's stock trades beat the market? for what FundsGo's back-tests found.
How to follow a member's trades in FundsGo
- Create a free account (no card, practice money only).
- Open Following → People or Portfolios, search a name and press Follow.
- When they file a new report, FundsGo alerts you and says whether they bought a new stock or bought more of one they already hold.
- Each person's card shows their average disclosure delay and what copying their disclosed buys would have returned.
Key takeaways
- Congressional trades are public by law, but arrive up to 45 days late, in dollar ranges.
- Reports cover spouses and dependent children too.
- Unusual timing is worth knowing about, but it is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Sources
- STOCK Act, Public Law 112-105 (2012), Congress.gov
- U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk: Financial Disclosure Reports
- U.S. Senate: Public Financial Disclosure (eFD)
- House Committee on Ethics: Financial Disclosure guidance and Periodic Transaction Report instructions
Frequently asked questions
How long do members of Congress have to report a stock trade?
Under the STOCK Act, a Periodic Transaction Report is due within 30 days of the member learning of the trade and no later than 45 days after the trade itself.
Do Congress stock disclosures show exact amounts?
No. Trades are reported in dollar ranges, such as $1,001–$15,000 or $15,001–$50,000, not exact amounts.
Are spouses' trades included?
Yes. Periodic Transaction Reports cover trades by the member, their spouse and their dependent children.
Where can I see Congress stock trades for free?
On the House Clerk's financial disclosure site and the Senate's eFD site, or in an aggregator such as FundsGo that reads the filings and sends alerts.