Methodology and sources

Last updated September 25, 2026.

Congressional trades

Periodic transaction reports filed by members of the House and Senate under the STOCK Act. Members must report a trade within 45 days, so a trade can appear weeks after it happened. We show the trade date. Amounts are reported as ranges, and we show them as ranges.

Corporate insiders

SEC Form 4 filings, which officers, directors and large holders must file within two business days of a trade. Form 144 notices are filed when an insider plans to sell restricted stock. Sales under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan are labelled as scheduled.

Clusters and base rates

An insider cluster counts distinct insiders at one company buying within a 30-day window. Where we say how unusual a cluster is, the comparison comes from our own historical data, and we describe rarity, never what the stock will do.

Economic data and news

Economic figures come from the Federal Reserve's FRED service; the VIX is Cboe's index, retrieved through FRED. News items are headlines linked to their publishers; we drop law-firm solicitations and non-English releases.

Limits

Source filings can be late, amended or wrong, and automated processing can make mistakes. When we find an error we fix it and note it on the corrections page.