How to track congressional stock trades
A practical guide to tracking congressional stock trades with public STOCK Act disclosures, live filters, politician pages, ticker pages, and alerts.
Direct answer
To track congressional stock trades, start from the latest public disclosures, check the filing date against the transaction date, open the related politician and ticker pages, then save alerts for the lawmakers or companies you want to monitor again.
Workflow
Start with newest filings
Use the live feed when freshness matters. Sort and filter before deciding whether a disclosure deserves more context.
Open feedOpen the lawmaker profile
A politician page shows whether the new disclosure fits a repeated pattern or is an isolated transaction.
Browse politiciansCheck the ticker page
A ticker page shows whether other lawmakers disclosed trades in the same company and how buy/sell mix looks.
Try NVDASave the repeat search
Use alerts when the next filing matters more than a one-time search session.
Create alertApp fields used in this guide
These are product field names, included so the guide connects to the actual tracker instead of staying abstract.
| Field | App key | Example | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawmaker | politician_name | Nancy Pelosi | The member or covered filer connected to the public disclosure. |
| Ticker | ticker | NVDA | The normalized public company ticker used for ticker pages and alerts. |
| Transaction type | transaction_type | purchase | The disclosed action, such as purchase, sale, or partial sale. |
| Amount range | amount_min / amount_max | $1,001 - $15,000 | The reported value band, not an exact position size. |
| Trade date | transaction_date | 2026-05-12 | The date the transaction was reported to have occurred. |
| Filing date | filing_date | 2026-05-20 | The date the disclosure became public in the filing workflow. |
| Disclosure delay | disclosure_delay_days | 8 days | The gap between the transaction date and the filing date. |
| Notable flag | is_notable | true | A product signal used to surface large, fast-filed, repeated, or context-heavy trades. |
Read the disclosure before reading the headline
The useful unit is the filing row: lawmaker, ticker, transaction type, amount range, transaction date, filing date, and source context. Headlines often collapse those details into a story that sounds more precise than the public record allows.
A purchase reported quickly is different from a sale reported weeks later. A large amount range is different from a small routine transaction. Congressional Trader keeps those facts visible together.
- Use `filing_date` to understand when the market could see the report.
- Use `transaction_date` to understand when the trade happened.
- Use `amount_min` and `amount_max` as a range, not a precise position.
- Use `is_notable` as a triage signal, not a buy or sell recommendation.
Move from one filing to a monitoring workflow
One search answers what just happened. A watchlist answers what happens next. If a lawmaker, ticker, state, or sector matters to your research, save the path instead of relying on memory.
This is where a product workflow is stronger than a static article: the same disclosure can connect to a live feed row, a politician page, a ticker page, state and sector pages, and alerts.
Official context
Congressional Trader organizes public records for research. Official House and Senate disclosure systems remain the authority for filing rules and source records.
Related paths
FAQ
What is the fastest way to track congressional trades?
Use the live trade feed for new filings, then save alerts for lawmakers or tickers you care about.
Are congressional trades real time?
No. Public filings can appear after the transaction date. Always check the filing date and disclosure delay.
Should I copy trades from a tracker?
No. Trackers organize delayed public disclosures for research. They are not investment advice.