Methodology
The Stock Trading Grade
A grade from A to F for each sitting member of Congress, built from their own periodic transaction reports. One method, the same for every member, published before any grade appears.
The question it answers
Would this member pass a congressional stock-trading ban today? Bills to ban members from trading individual stocks have been introduced by members of both parties, so the grade uses that as a neutral yardstick. An A means no individual-stock trades were reported in the window: the member already lives by such a rule.
The grade measures reported trading and disclosure timing under one published method. It is not a finding of wrongdoing.
What counts
- Window: trades dated in the last 24 months, up to the day the page is computed, from House Clerk and Senate eFD periodic transaction reports, dates as filed.
- Owner: the member, a spouse and a dependent child are all included, as filed.
- Counted: stocks, stock options and other single-company securities.
- Shown, not scored (this version): bonds.
- Excluded: mutual funds, ETFs and other pooled funds (by the name as filed or a broad-fund ticker), Treasuries, municipal securities, cash, crypto and other assets: the instruments a ban would allow.
- Rows with a date note (dates that look wrong in the filing) are not scored.
- Reports are counted once per first report: an amendment that restates lines does not make a second report.
Points
| Factor | Thresholds | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Individual-stock transactions in the window | 0 / 1–10 / 11–50 / 51–200 / over 200 | 0 / 15 / 30 / 45 / 55 |
| Reported value: the sum of the lowest amount in each disclosed band | under $250,000 / $250,000–$1 million / $1–5 million / $5 million or more | 0 / 5 / 10 / 15 |
| Any stock option trade | yes | +5 |
| Share of trades matching our committee signal on the trade date | 0% / over 0–25% / over 25% | 0 / 5 / 10 |
| Reports filed more than 45 days after the trade (distinct reports, never transactions) | 0 / 1 / 2–4 / 5 or more | 0 / 3 / 6 / 10 |
| Trades in companies with a listed federal contract signed on or before the trade | any | +5 |
The committee signal: the member held a seat, on the trade date, on a committee that our hand-built map links to the company’s sector, per the congress-legislators record. The contract signal: the company had an award in our listed set (not competed and at least $1 million, or any contract of at least $10 million, signed from 2023-10-01, USAspending) signed on or before the trade date. The STOCK Act asks for a report within 30 days of the member learning of a trade and no later than 45 days after the trade; a gap over 45 days is a measured fact about two dates as the member filed them, not a finding about the filer.
Every point is shown on the member’s card with its reason and links to the filings behind it.
From points to a grade
- A · 0 points: No individual-stock trades reported in the window.
- B · 1–20
- C · 21–40
- D · 41–60
- F · 61 or more
Not graded. An A says no individual-stock trades were reported, which we cannot say when some of a member’s reports from the last 24 months are scanned images or paper filings we have not read yet. Those members show “Not graded” and the number of unread reports, not a letter. A member with trades in the filings we have read keeps the grade, with a note that the count may be incomplete.
The thresholds were set before anyone looked at where members land. The distribution by party and chamber is reported as it comes out and the thresholds are never tuned to it.
When a factor can't be computed
A factor that cannot be computed scores 0 and is labelled “not computed” on the card. It is never described as a clean result. Examples: committee data is not available for some dates (a new Congress had not yet published committee rosters), and our contract data starts on 2023-10-01.
What the grade does not say
- Not a finding.
The grade measures reported trading and disclosure timing. It says nothing about why a member traded, what they knew, or whether any rule was broken.
- Filings we have not read.
Some House reports are scanned images and some Senate reports were filed on paper; member pages say when that applies, and those trades are not in the grade, so the count may be incomplete. Only reports filed in the last 24 months are counted for this.
- Bands, not amounts.
Reported value adds the lowest amount of each disclosed range, so it is a floor.
See the grades in context on the most active traders page and on each member’s page.