How the disclosure works
Under the STOCK Act, members of Congress and certain staff must file periodic transaction reports for securities trades. The reports are published by the House Clerk and the Senate, through the Senate electronic financial disclosure system. Each report gives the trade date, the security and an amount range.
What the lag means
A congressional trade has three dates that matter:
- The trade date, when the transaction happened.
- The disclosure date, when the report was published.
- The price date, when the market moved.
The gap between the first and second can be weeks. The public learns about the trade after the trade. Any decision based on it is made with that delay built in.
Reading a congressional trade record
- Check the trade date and the disclosure date, not only the headline.
- Note that amounts are ranges, so the exact value is unknown.
- Check whether the stock is related to the member's committee work, if you care about that link.
- Look at whether other trades, insider filings or fund holdings point the same way.
How Atradian uses these trades
Congressional trades are one dataset within smart money tracking. Atradian treats them as an input to research, not a live signal, and shows them next to the regime and news. Check the reliability page for data freshness and known gaps.