PolitAlpha Watchdog

Tracking trades where politicians sit on congressional committees that directly oversee the industry of the stock they traded.

Watchdog Alerts

1,788

out of 31.9K total trades

Alert Rate

5.6%

of all trades flagged

Members Flagged

trading 465 stocks

Flagged Volume

$62.9M

of $1.5B total

Watchdog Analysis

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does Watchdog detect?

Watchdog flags trades where a member of Congress buys or sells stock in a company whose industry falls under the jurisdiction of a committee they serve on. For example, a Senator on the Banking Committee buying shares of a bank.

How does the detection work?

PolitAlpha matches each trade's stock to an industry using SEC SIC codes, then checks if the trading politician sits on a committee that oversees that industry. Matches are flagged automatically.

Is congressional insider trading illegal?

The STOCK Act of 2012 explicitly prohibits members of Congress from using nonpublic information for personal financial gain. However, enforcement has been limited, and many trades that appear to conflict with committee duties are technically legal.

How often is the Watchdog data updated?

Flagged trades are recalculated daily when new trades are imported from public congressional financial disclosures.