Good morning.
You've heard about Congress trading. You've probably seen some of their trades in our newsletter. But do you know the three main strategies for using Congress trade data in your own research?
Today we're covering not just individual politician trades that make you question everything, but how to think about political trading as an information source.
In today’s edition:
⭐ The Nancy Pelosi Effect
👀 Congress Committee Convergence
🚨 Accumulation Signals
😮 Current Trades to Watch RIGHT NOW
Let’s dive in.
In partnership with AltIndex
The Data That Beat the S&P 500
The AltIndex app hands you all the alternative stock data you’re missing, like:
Alerts when Reddit mentions of a stock surge by 2,000%
Changes in every company’s job listing count (can signal growth)
Swings in public companies’ web traffic (can signal sales)
And they just rolled out a new app update with a customized investor type quiz and smarter stock alerts.
Download for Apple or Android and start your free 7-day trial:
Please support our partners!
Why Does Congress Trade Tracking Matter?
First, let's address the most common objection:
"Congress members don't have to file trades until 45 days after the fact. By then it's too late."
This is true for quick flips, but misses the bigger picture.
If a Congress member buys a stock and it doubles the next day, then yes—you've missed it entirely by the time the disclosure appears. But that's not what we're looking for.
What matters are the trades where:
A Congress member makes a specific purchase and the stock hasn't moved much yet
A politician builds a position over time through multiple purchases
Multiple members cluster around the same stock or sector
Committee assignments align suspiciously well with investment choices
These patterns can signal conviction about longer-term developments rather than immediate events. The 45-day delay matters less when the thesis is playing out over months or quarters.
The key is using these trades as research signals, not buy orders. Riskier traders might take positions alongside politicians with strong track records. More conservative investors might use congressional activity as a prompt to dig deeper into a company or sector they hadn't considered.
Either way, the data is public, legal, and potentially valuable if you know what to look for.
The 3 Types of Congress Trades to Track
1. The Nancy Pelosi Effect
They call her the Queen of Trading on X. Nancy Pelosi has grown her net worth to an estimated $278M, largely through her investments. She has a history of making big trades, and those big trades have a history of going up.
That’s why her trades get more attention than newer Congress members who haven’t proven their chops yet (or who have proven that they’re bad at trading).
Will Pelosi always make winning trades? No. But her track record suggests it's worth noting what she's buying and when.
Want to see the receipts? Here are some recent examples from her:
On January 17, 2025, Pelosi bought up to $50,000 in Tempus AI (TEM) call options. Since then, TEM has risen 104.27%.
On July 2, 2024, she bought up to $5M in Broadcom (AVGO) calls. AVGO is up 100% since then.
She repeated this trade a year later on July 9, 2025, buying as much as $5M in AVGO calls again. AVGO is up 30% since then.
The pattern with high-profile traders like Pelosi is as follows: their trades get scrutinized, and their success rate is publicly trackable. When they make large bets, it signals strong conviction.
2. Committee Convergence
It raises eyebrows when a Congress member buys stock in a company while sitting on a committee that oversees that company's industry.
Should it be legal? That's a policy debate. But it is legal, and the trades are public.
Example: Rep. Michael McCaul and MSA Safety
Representative Michael McCaul bought up to $50k of MSA Safety Products (MSA) earlier this month. That company has active contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. And McCaul is the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Make it make sense!
He's also the only politician who’s bought MSA since 2019, so this wasn’t just an “Everyone’s doing it!” trade.
Benefit from political trade tracking without any effort on your part: AltIndex factors Congress trades into its own stock ratings.
3. Accumulation Signal
Example: Rep. Tim Moore and Hyster-Yale
Rep. Tim Moore has made 11 purchases of Hyster-Yale (HY), a small-cap heavy machinery company with only a $575 million market cap. That’s an exceptionally small stock for a Congress member to be buying into; you almost never see that.
He's made three sales along the way, but most recently has accumulated up to $315K and is holding.
So those are the three trade types; but a lot of those trades happened a while ago. What are some active trades and trends that we’re looking at right now?
Current Congress Trades We’re Watching
The Google Train
Up first, the biggest tech trend we’re seeing:
Google is not just the most popular tech stock among politicians at the moment; it’s the most popular stock, full stop.
In the past three months, six different Congress members have purchased GOOGL. Eight have sold it. So is this bullish or bearish?
The answer lies in who's buying and how much.
Rep. Cleo Fields, one of Congress's most notoriously bullish tech investors, has been aggressively accumulating GOOGL with no sells:
Dec 15: Buys up to $50K
Dec 11: Buys up to $250K
Dec 9: Buys up to $100K
Dec 1: Buys up to $100K
Oct 23: Buys up to $250K
Oct 10: Buys up to $50K
He accumulated up to $800K of GOOGL in 3 months. The man is on a mission to buy as much of GOOGL as he can, apparently. So what does that tell us?
That doesn’t look like portfolio rebalancing to us, it’s just plain conviction.
Does this guarantee Google will outperform? No. But it tells us that one of Congress's most active tech traders remains bullish on Google even after its recent strong performance.
Cleo’s IREN Train
Rep. Cleo Fields made one of his best trades on August 25, 2025, buying up to $50,000 of IREN Ltd (IREN). The stock has risen 127% since then.
The interesting wrinkle: he's made three smaller additions to his IREN position since then, but the stock has fallen approximately 37% since those follow-up purchases.
His most recent IREN buy was just 11 days ago.
Either Fields is averaging down on a losing position and can't admit he's wrong, or he knows something about IREN's future that isn't yet public. It's worth watching whether he continues buying or finally stops.
The 0% Rated Stock That Keeps Going Up
Next up: Rep. April Delaney has made 12 purchases of Markel Group Inc (MKL) shares. Her position is now as much as $330K.
Notably, the stock has a 0% analyst buy rating; yet she keeps buying.
And MKL is up 27.12% the past year.
Delaney’s most recent purchase of the stock was 12 days ago. She must still think the stock has room to grow… even as analysts continue to give MKL a “hold” or “sell” rating.
AltIndex: Benefit From Congress Trades with Zero Extra Work
Not only does AltIndex track Congress trading on its platform, but it also factors congress trades into its AI stock ratings. So if you there’s a big vote of confidence in a company from a politician, you can be sure to know that their AI is using that information in its analysis of its stock.
Get a full-access 7-day FREE trial of AltIndex here and supercharge your trading with alternative data like this that shapes markets behind the scenes.
⭐️ What did you think of today's edition?
📰 Want to Advertise In Stocks & Income?
Interested in sponsoring our newsletter and putting your brand in front of 100K+ readers?
Reach out to us here, we’d love to talk:
🫡 See You Next Week
That’s all for today’s special edition. We hope you got value from it. Reply and let us know if you did.
Until next week,
— Brandon & Blake
The information provided in Stocks & Income is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Stocks & Income is not a registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, or licensed financial planner. Always do your own research and consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. We may hold positions in or receive compensation from the companies or products mentioned. Disclosures will be made where applicable. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal.
Stocks & Income, AltIndex, Finance Wrapped, The Chain, and Future Funders are all owned by Invested, Inc.