Methodology

Public records only. Each trade links back to the filing it came from.

SEC EDGAR

Form 4 (trades by company officers, directors and 10% owners), Schedule 13D and 13G (stakes of 5% or more) and 8-K (company news). Checked every 15 minutes.

Clerk of the US House

Representatives' periodic transaction reports and annual financial disclosures, from disclosures-clerk.house.gov. Checked a few times a day.

US Senate (eFD)

Senators' periodic transaction reports and annual financial disclosures, from efdsearch.senate.gov. Checked a few times a day.

Office of Government Ethics

Reports by the President, Vice President and cabinet (Forms 278e and 278-T). Checked daily.

FINRA and Nasdaq

Short interest, read through Yahoo Finance. Refreshed over a few hours as it changes.

Yahoo Finance

Daily prices after each market close, plus company size and share count.

Politician profiles

Party, terms and photo from the congress-legislators dataset (unitedstates.github.io); sponsored bills from the congress.gov API; campaign donors and outside spending from OpenFEC (api.open.fec.gov); a short bio from Wikipedia. Checked daily.

When each source last checked in is on the status page.

The law gives filers time to report, so a trade shows up here only once it has been filed. The trade date and the filing date are both shown.

Form 4

Within 2 business days of the trade.

Schedule 13D

Within 5 business days of crossing 5%.

Schedule 13G

Later, depending on the kind of holder.

8-K

Within 4 business days of the event.

House, Senate and cabinet

Up to 45 days after the trade, under the STOCK Act. The same rule for both chambers.

Short interest

Published twice a month, about two weeks behind.

Late filings lists company insiders' Form 4 reports made public after the legal deadline, from the trade and filing dates in the filings themselves. It states dates; it does not say anyone broke a rule.

Form 4

Due by the end of the second SEC business day after the trade: weekdays, minus federal holidays and the days federal offices were closed by executive order. We count only purchases and sales (codes P and S, open-market or private), and gifts dated on or after 27 February 2023, when gifts moved onto the two-day deadline. Grants, option exercises, tax withholding and plan purchases (ESPP, dividend reinvestment, 401(k), deferred pay) are left out, because they can be reported later or on Form 5. When a filing gives a deemed execution date, the deadline runs from it; a trade marked as under a 10b5-1 plan without one gets 3 more business days. A filing is listed only when it came in at least 3 business days after its deadline, and only once we have read its footnotes. Left out: gifts received, and gifts that only move shares into the giver's or a spouse's trust or from direct to indirect ownership; purchases a footnote ties to a dividend-reinvestment, stock-purchase or 401(k) plan; a person's first filing at the company (the trade that makes someone an insider goes on Form 3); a trade an earlier filing at the same company already reported (a related fund or co-filer reporting the same shares on time); a filing that lists three or more purchases spread over more than four months, which is usually plan buying reported together; amendments (4/A); trades typed with last year's date; and filings whose trades span most of a year.

Why a report can be late without fault

Amendments, late notice from a broker or a spouse's account, items eligible for later reporting, and paper filings can all move a filing date legitimately.

10b5-1 plan trades

Trades on a schedule set months in advance. They are marked as plan trades and left out of the buying checks, because the timing wasn't chosen. The 90-day net buying check still counts them.

Wrong or untradable tickers

If a filing's stock trades over the counter, barely trades, or its name doesn't match the company that filed, it is hidden everywhere. We show nothing rather than the wrong stock. Tickers still being checked are shown.

Paper filings

Some Congress reports are filed on paper and published as scanned images. They are linked but not read, so their trades are missing. Most are older, but senators still file some reports on paper each year.

Very small and very large companies

Companies known to be worth under $100 million or over $2 billion never appear on Candidates. Their filings still appear everywhere else.

Congress covers the House and the Senate.

After each scan, every company with an insider trade in the last 90 days is run through the same 12 checks. The first seven look at the buying itself; the last five add context.

1. 1Several insiders bought · Different insiders buying around the same time.
2. 2A top boss bought · An open-market buy by a chief officer (CEO, CFO, COO and the like), the president or the chair.
3. 3A large purchase · One buy of $100,000 or more.
4. 4One purchase over $1 million
5. 5Their first purchase in a year
6. 6More buying than selling in 90 days · Buys minus sells of at least $250,000.
7. 7Bought after company news · A buy shortly after a material 8-K.
8. 8A company worth $100–500 million
9. 9Few shares trade · A small float.
10. 10Many people betting it falls · High short interest.
11. 11Short sellers would struggle to buy back · High days to cover.
12. 12Unusually heavy trading · The latest day's volume against its 20-day average.

Each check carries a weight. A company’s score is the total weight of the checks it matches. Within the size limits above, companies that pass a set score appear on Candidates.

“Why flagged” lists the checks a company matched, in words, with the figure behind each one. A score says a setup is unusual, not that the stock will rise.