Question 1

Are senators required to disclose stock trades?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act), signed in 2012, requires US senators and members of Congress to publicly disclose stock trades over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction.

Question 2

Where does Capitol Gains get its data?

Accepted Answer

All data is sourced from official US Senate financial disclosure filings available at efdsearch.senate.gov. Capitol Gains aggregates and indexes these public records to make them searchable in real time.

Question 3

How often is Senate stock trade data updated?

Accepted Answer

Capitol Gains checks for new Senate disclosures multiple times per day and indexes them as soon as they become publicly available on the official Senate disclosure portal.

Question 4

Which senators trade stocks the most?

Accepted Answer

Trading activity varies by senator and year. Capitol Gains tracks all active traders. Visit capitalgains.app to see the most recent disclosures sorted by activity.

Question 5

Is it illegal for senators to trade stocks?

Accepted Answer

It is legal for senators to trade stocks, but it is illegal to trade on material non-public information obtained through their official duties. The STOCK Act makes this explicit and requires public disclosure of all trades.

Question 6

What is the penalty for senators who fail to disclose trades on time?

Accepted Answer

The current penalty for late STOCK Act disclosure is $200 — widely criticized as too low to be a meaningful deterrent. Capitol Gains tracks disclosure dates so you can see which trades were filed late.

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Senate Stock Trading: What the STOCK Act Data Actually Shows