Stock trading by members of Congress has been closely scrutinized recently, with several reports of well-timed stock trades by members leading up to the financial crash that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic. Up-to-date public knowledge of Congressmembers’ stock transactions is a relatively new phenomena, which exists thanks to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act passed in 2012.
Congress passed the STOCK Act to curb insider trading by requiring members of Congress and other federal officials to file Periodic Transaction Reports (PTRs) within 45 days of the purchase, sale, or exchange of stocks, bonds, commodities futures, and other securities that exceed $1,000. The PTRs are submitted to the House and Senate Ethics Committees and are searchable online with the Clerk of the House and the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics.
However, the forms are only available for download as PDF files, with some members filing dozens of PTRs during any given year. In order to help the public navigate trading by various members, a software engineer named Timothy Carambat developed a website called Senate Stock Watcher, which compiles the publicly available PTRs into charts and graphs that are easier to digest than the original filings. The website was utilized by the New York Times to analyze stock trading by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), who made 2,596 trades during his six years in office, which nearly equaled the combined trading volume of the next five most active traders in the Senate.
As the public becomes more vigilant about Congressmembers making money from their knowledge and connections, members can expect increased scrutiny of their market activity.