Here's something most retail traders don't think about: the people writing the laws that move markets are also trading those markets. And they're really, really good at it.
Members of Congress have consistently outperformed the S&P 500. Not by a little. Some by double digits, year after year. The STOCK Act of 2012 was supposed to fix this by requiring disclosure of trades, but all it really did was create a public paper trail that proves the problem exists.
Congress members are required to disclose their trades within 45 days. That sounds reasonable until you realize what 45 days means in market terms. A trade made on insider knowledge about a defense contract or a regulatory decision has already played out by the time the public sees the filing.
But here's the thing: even with the delay, the data is still valuable. Because these aren't one-time trades. They're patterns. When a member of the Armed Services Committee starts loading up on defense stocks, that's a signal worth paying attention to, even if you see it 45 days late.
We track every disclosed congressional trade and score each politician by performance. Here's what the data shows:
Not everyone beats the market. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ro Khanna both posted negative returns. But the top performers aren't just beating the index. They're demolishing it.
You don't need to copy congressional trades 1:1. The 45-day delay makes that impractical for short-term plays. But the data tells you something else entirely: where the smart money expects sectors to go.
When multiple members of the same committee start making similar trades, that's a consensus signal. When a politician breaks from their usual pattern and enters a new sector, that's worth investigating. When someone on the Intelligence Committee sells their tech holdings, maybe ask why.
The data is all public. It's just scattered across SEC filings, financial disclosures, and government databases. Nobody has time to sift through all of it manually.
MarketSignals tracks every congressional trade as it's disclosed, scores each politician's track record, and sends you the highlights. The free tier gives you congressional trade alerts. Pro and Elite tiers add options flow data and dark pool activity for a complete picture of where institutional money is moving.
The information has always been public. We just made it useful.
This is not financial advice. MarketSignals provides publicly available data for informational purposes only. Past performance of any trader, including members of Congress, does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.