The Top Performing Politicians chart on Inside the Capitol ranks members of Congress by estimated profit and loss on disclosed trades. It is an estimate built from public filings, not a report of anyone’s actual portfolio return, and that distinction matters.
How it works
- Amount midpoints. Disclosures report each trade as a value range (for example, $15,001 to $50,000). Ezana uses the midpoint of the range as the assumed position size.
- Entry price. Each disclosed buy is priced using historical market data for its transaction date, not the later filing date.
- Exit price. The position is valued at the earlier of a matching sale of the same ticker in the same calendar year, or the end of that year.
- Sells without a buy are skipped. Without a known purchase, there is no honest way to estimate profit.
- Aggregation. Per-trade results are added up for each member for the year you choose. Per-trade results beyond plus or minus 500% are dropped as likely data errors.
Step-by-step
- Open Inside the Capitol and find the Top Performing Politicians card.
- Use the Year selector to pick a year from 2016 onward, or All-time.
- Click the info button to show the methodology note in the card.
- Hover a bar to see that member’s estimated P&L.
Things to know
- A range midpoint can be far from the real amount. A trade reported as $15,001 to $50,000 could be anywhere in that band.
- Disclosures do not include cost basis, taxes, or account-level sizing.
- Late filings are common, so a year’s figures can change after the fact.
- Figures refresh weekly for the current and previous year.
- During the beta, Inside the Capitol may show a “coming in v1.0” notice for some accounts.
Use the ranking as a signal about disclosed activity, not as a precise track record.
Next in Research Tools: Following Specific Politicians and Interpreting Congressional Trade Data.
Related articles
- Understanding Congressional Disclosures
- Interpreting Congressional Trade Data
- How Congressional Trading Data Works
FAQ
Q: Is this a real portfolio return?
A: No. It is an estimate from disclosed trades using range midpoints and historical prices.
Q: Why not use exact prices?
A: Execution prices are not published, so the transaction-date price is the best available proxy.
Q: Why is a well-known trader missing?
A: Members with only sales, or no priced buys in that year, have nothing to estimate.