Congressional disclosures are useful, but they are not a trading signal on their own. This guide explains what each field means, what it cannot tell you, and how to look for patterns worth researching further.
How it works
- Amount range: disclosures report ranges (for example $15,001 to $50,000), not exact amounts. Treat the midpoint as a rough size.
- Transaction date and filing date: the transaction date is when the trade happened; the filing date is when it became public. The gap between them is the reporting delay.
- Type: purchase or sale.
- Who traded: disclosures can cover trades by a spouse or dependent child as well as the member.
Step-by-step
- Open Inside The Capitol and scan Latest Trades.
- Click a member to open their profile and check Filing Statistics for average reporting time and timeliness.
- Review Recent Trades and Top Holdings for repeated activity in one company or sector.
- Check Similar Traders on the profile, where shown, to see members with overlapping activity.
- Click a ticker to open it in Company Research and look at the business itself.
What you’ll see
Patterns tell you more than any single trade: repeated buys in one sector, trades clustered around committee work, or a member who consistently reports late. Use these as questions to investigate, not conclusions.
Things to know
- Performance and return estimates use prices around the disclosed dates, not the member’s actual fill prices.
- Disclosures are individual transactions, not a full holdings statement, so they will not add up to a complete portfolio.
- Because of the reporting delay, the market may already have moved by the time you see a trade.
Related articles
- Understanding Congressional Disclosures
- Top Performing Politicians Methodology
- How Congressional Trading Data Works
- Filtering and Searching Congressional Trades
FAQ
Q: Does a purchase mean the member is bullish?
A: Not necessarily. A financial adviser or spouse may have made the trade, and a disclosure does not reveal intent.
Q: Is this insider trading?
A: Disclosure is legally required and the data is public. Ezana presents it; it does not allege wrongdoing.
Q: Why is the date on a trade different from when I saw it?
A: The feed shows when the trade happened. It became public later, when the member filed.