Frequently Asked Questions

SEC Form 4 is a mandatory public disclosure that corporate insiders — officers, directors, and shareholders owning more than 10% of a company — must file within 2 business days of any stock transaction. It lists the insider's name, their role, the number of shares traded, the price, and the transaction date. InsiderAct parses these filings automatically.

Under SEC rules, corporate insiders include company officers (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.), members of the board of directors, and any shareholder who owns more than 10% of the company's outstanding shares. All of these individuals must disclose their trades via Form 4.

InsiderAct ingests SEC EDGAR filings in near real time. Most transactions appear within minutes to hours of the filing being published by the SEC. Insiders have 2 business days to file, so there is always some lag between the actual transaction date and when it becomes visible.

All data comes from SEC EDGAR, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's public filing database. InsiderAct does not use any proprietary or non-public data sources. Every transaction displayed on InsiderAct can be cross-referenced against the original Form 4 filing on EDGAR.

Yes. All data shown on InsiderAct comes from publicly available filings. We only organize and present this information in a more accessible way.

Cluster buying happens when multiple insiders purchase shares within a short period. This pattern is often seen as a stronger signal than a single transaction.

InsiderAct flags cluster buying when two or more distinct insiders make open-market purchases within a 14-day window. The insiders must be acting independently — the pattern derives its signal strength from the convergence of separate decision-makers.

InsiderAct defines large insider purchases as open-market buys of $100,000 or more. This threshold filters out routine small purchases and focuses attention on transactions that represent a meaningful financial commitment for the insider.

An open-market purchase means the insider spent personal cash to buy shares at the current market price — a genuine investment decision. An option exercise is simply converting pre-granted options into shares, often at a discounted strike price. InsiderAct focuses on open-market purchases because they represent real capital at risk.

Insiders can sell stock for many reasons unrelated to company outlook: diversification, tax planning, estate needs, or exercising options near expiration. Buying, by contrast, is almost always a choice — the insider is putting their own money in because they believe in the company's future. This asymmetry makes purchases more informative than sales.

A 10b5-1 plan is a pre-scheduled trading arrangement set up by an insider in advance, specifying conditions (price, volume, date) under which shares will automatically be bought or sold. Because the decision was made earlier, trades under a 10b5-1 plan carry less informational signal than a discretionary open-market purchase. InsiderAct labels these separately.

Not all insider transactions reflect real investment decisions. We focus on open-market trades, where insiders use their own money.

No. Insider activity is not a guarantee of future performance. However, patterns such as large purchases or multiple insiders buying together are often considered stronger signals.

Insider activity is best used as a starting point — not a final decision. It can help identify companies worth further research.

Insider trading data refers to transactions made by company executives, directors, and major shareholders. These trades are publicly disclosed through regulatory filings (such as SEC Form 4).

Instead of showing raw filings, we turn insider transactions into clear signals — helping you focus on activity that may matter, not just more data.

Company insiders have a closer view of their business than the public. When they buy shares with their own money, it can reflect confidence in the company's future.

Yes. Use the Search feature to find any U.S. publicly traded company by name or ticker, then view its full insider transaction history and any active signals.

The buying-the-dip signal identifies cases where a corporate insider makes a significant open-market purchase after their company's stock has declined meaningfully. This is treated as a high-conviction signal because the insider is explicitly backing — with personal capital — their view that the price decline is overdone.

Blue-chip insider buying tracks open-market purchases by executives at large, well-established companies — typically S&P 500 or Fortune 500 constituents. At these companies, executives are already heavily compensated in equity, so a discretionary open-market purchase with personal funds represents an unusually strong conviction signal.

Go to the Signals page on InsiderAct and select the Cluster Buys tab. InsiderAct automatically identifies companies where two or more distinct insiders have made open-market purchases within a 14-day window and ranks them by total purchase value. Each entry shows the number of buyers, the total amount committed, and the most recent filing date.

The top net insider buying list on InsiderAct ranks companies by the total value of open-market insider purchases minus insider sales over a selected time period. Companies with high net buying have insiders collectively adding to their personal equity exposure — a bullish aggregate signal. The list is available at InsiderAct under Top Issuers > Buying.

You can start for free with no credit card required. The free plan includes 7 days of insider transaction history, basic search, and access to core features. Paid plans unlock 30-day history, all signal types (cluster buying, large purchases, buying the dip, blue-chip), and real-time alerts.

The free plan provides 7-day transaction history, basic insider search, and limited signal access. InsiderAct Pro unlocks 30-day history, full access to all signal types (cluster buying, large purchases, buying the dip, blue-chip insider buying), real-time alerts, and advanced filters. There is no commitment — Pro can be cancelled at any time.

Yes. You can cancel your InsiderAct Pro subscription at any time with no cancellation fee. You will retain Pro access until the end of your current billing period.

Yes. Your account, watchlist, and alert settings are private. InsiderAct does not sell or share your personal data with third parties.

Academic research — including studies by Seyhun (1992), Lakonishok and Lee (2001), and others — shows that insider buying, particularly by top executives, has historically produced statistically significant positive abnormal returns over 6–12 month horizons. Cluster buying and large open-market purchases by officers show the strongest predictive results. However, insider data is a research signal, not a guaranteed predictor — it should be used alongside fundamental analysis.

For investment research, focus exclusively on code 'P' (open-market purchase) — the only transaction type where an insider voluntarily spends personal cash on their own company's stock. Ignore code 'A' (award), 'M' (option exercise), 'S' (sale — often pre-scheduled), 'G' (gift), and 'J' (other acquisition). The P code is the cleanest signal of discretionary insider conviction.

SEC EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's public filing database. All corporate insiders — officers, directors, and 10%+ shareholders of public U.S. companies — must file Form 4 disclosures on EDGAR within 2 business days of any stock transaction. InsiderAct ingests EDGAR filings automatically and filters for high-conviction signals, saving the hours of manual parsing that EDGAR requires.

Net insider buying is the total dollar value of open-market insider purchases minus insider sales over a given period. A positive net buying figure means insiders collectively bought more than they sold — a bullish aggregate signal. InsiderAct's Top Net Buying list ranks companies by this metric, highlighting where insider conviction is concentrated across the market.

Use insider buying as a screen — not a buy signal by itself. The recommended workflow: (1) identify a cluster buy or large purchase on InsiderAct, (2) research the company's fundamentals (revenue growth, margins, balance sheet), (3) assess whether the valuation is reasonable relative to peers, (4) check recent news for any obvious explanation (buyback announcement, index rebalancing), and (5) monitor for continued insider activity over the next 30–90 days. Insider signals narrow the research universe; fundamentals validate the opportunity.