Congressional Stock Trades: Reading the Disclosures
Members of Congress have to report their stock trades, but the report arrives weeks after the trade and gives a dollar range rather than an amount. Knowing those two limits is most of what it takes to read one.
The rule
Under the STOCK Act of 2012, members of Congress and senior congressional staff file a periodic transaction report for any purchase, sale or exchange of a stock or bond worth more than $1,000. The deadline is 30 days after they are notified of the trade and no later than 45 days after the trade itself, and trades by a spouse or dependent child count too (House Ethics Committee guidance).
Senior officials in the executive branch work to the same clock: 30 days from notification, 45 days at most from the trade, for transactions over $1,000, filed on OGE Form 278-T (Office of Government Ethics Legal Advisory 12-04).
What a report tells you, and what it leaves out
Each report names the person, the security, whether it was a purchase or a sale, the trade date and the filing date. The amount comes as a band: $1,001 to $15,000, $15,001 to $50,000, $50,001 to $100,000 and so on up, so the size of a position is rarely clear.
The report also says nothing about why. A member on a committee that oversees an industry may trade in it for ordinary reasons, and some trades are made by a spouse or by an adviser managing the account.
Using it
Treat a disclosure as a late, partial record. Compare the trade date with the disclosure date and with what the stock did in between. Look for several members trading the same name in the same direction rather than a single filing. And keep the band in mind: a $1,001 to $15,000 purchase says little about conviction.
Our Smart Money page (Premium) lists recent congressional and executive-branch trades and flags congressional trades disclosed more than 45 days after the trade. Whether signals like these should change a stock rating is the subject of our study Should catalysts and smart money change a stock rating?
What our own feed shows
Across the 149 congressional trades in our Smart Money feed as of 2026-10-24 with both a trade date and a disclosure date, the median trade was disclosed 42 days after it was made, and 71 of them were disclosed more than 45 days after the trade. Check what the stock did between the trade date and the disclosure date before reading anything into a filing.
Frequently asked
How long do members of Congress have to report a stock trade?
Under the STOCK Act, 30 days from being notified of the trade and no more than 45 days from the trade itself, for transactions over $1,000.
Do congressional disclosures show the exact amount?
No. The amount is reported as a range, such as $1,001 to $15,000 or $15,001 to $50,000, so the exact size of the trade is not disclosed.
Do executive-branch officials report trades too?
Yes. Covered senior officials file OGE Form 278-T on the same schedule: 30 days from notification and no more than 45 days from a trade over $1,000.