Backtesting Congress members stock trades by the disclosure date

11 pointsposted 13 hours ago
by ProdRatSuperior

2 Comments

ProdRatSuperior

13 hours ago

Every site that covers congressional trading quotes returns from the politician's own entry price. But filings arrive up to 45 days after the trade (median ~26 days in the data), so nobody copying them ever got that price. I built a backtester that buys at the first open after each filing became public.. the earliest moment a real person could act. Fees on, equal position sizes (filings only disclose amount bands, so precise position sizes on other sites are invented).

Data is parsed from the House Clerk and Senate eFD archives back to 2012, refreshed daily. Paper-scan filings we can't parse are counted and shown as a coverage number instead of silently skipped. Free, no signup: https://investingpaths.com/tools/congress

avadodin

2 hours ago

I didn't expect the congressfolks' trades to be mostly done and over before disclosure.

Many of the biggest moves have a small lead of presumed insider trades and then a large move that may last months while never revisiting the initial trading range.