Trading term
What is STOCK Act?
The STOCK Act is a 2012 US law that makes members of Congress publicly report their stock trades, within 45 days at the latest.
STOCK stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge. The law says members of Congress can't use information they get from their job to trade, and it makes them report trades. A trade over $1,000, by a member, their spouse or a dependent child, goes on a public form called a periodic transaction report.
The report is due within 30 days of the member learning about the trade, and no later than 45 days after it. It gives the size of each trade as a range of values, not an exact amount.
For example
Two ETFs, NANC and GOP, read these reports and buy what Democratic or Republican lawmakers bought. Because the reports can arrive up to 45 days after a trade, the funds always buy late.
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Explore Premium →Why it matters to you
The reports are how the public sees what lawmakers trade. They also limit what you can copy: by the time a trade is public, the price may already have moved.
⚠ Assuming the reports show an edge
Studies of senators' trades since the law passed found their purchases did slightly worse than similar stocks. Copying the reports hasn't reliably beaten the market.