Congress Trading Report: Q1 2026 Biggest Buys
US lawmakers filed 340 new trades in Q1 2026. We filtered for the buys — purchases with the strongest returns historically.
The STOCK Act requires US members of Congress to disclose trades within 45 days of execution. The Q1 2026 filings are now available — 340 transactions in total, spanning senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle. We filtered the noise and found the patterns worth following.
Why Track Congressional Trading?
A 2004 study in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis found that US senators outperformed the market by 12.3% annually. A 2011 paper by Ziobrowski et al. found house members outperformed by 6% annually. Despite the STOCK Act's disclosure requirements, the informational edge from committee memberships and regulatory intelligence likely persists, albeit reduced.
| Sector | Buys | Sells | Net Bias |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defence / Aerospace | 47 | 12 | Strong Buy |
| Semiconductors | 38 | 31 | Slight Buy |
| Healthcare | 29 | 44 | Net Sell |
| Energy | 22 | 19 | Neutral |
The Caveats
Congressional trading is not a direct buy signal. Members may be selling to diversify, meet liquidity needs, or satisfy disclosure obligations. The strongest signal comes when multiple members from the same committee buy within a short window — clustering similar to insider cluster signals in corporate markets. Use congressional flows as a corroborating data point, not a primary screen.
Disclaimer: Not financial advice. DipBuster is an information platform. Always do your own research before investing.